Visit to the Dark Side...

I just realized that it has been six days since my last blog post - sorry! They have been keeping us very busy here in Leipzig, with daily lectures and rehearsals for the opera we are performing (oh ayeah, did I mention that? We are performing an opera by Johann Hasse which has not been performed since 1748. More on that later...spoiler: I have 2 arias!)

Soon I will blog about what a wonderful city Leipzig is - very different from quiet Eisenach and party-crazy Prague. But first, a report on my visit to the Dark Side... (I'll try to keep it light...)

German history has been kind of troubled...

First of all, we all know how well known the East German Communists were for the architecture...

 Actually, this is one of the more attractive constructions. The oppressive regime of the GDR (German Democratic Republic - the communists) kept things under control by use of their infamous secret police, the Stasi, which was closely allied with the Soviet KGB. Vladimir Putin worked as a KGB agent in the Stasi office in Dresden until reunification. Hi ho.

Today their offices in Leipzig are a museum - the Runde Ecke (round corner) named for the round corner entrance - not far from Bach's Thomaskirche.

It was not unusual for dissidents to be brought through these doors and never heard from again. Today Germany is not one of those brutal nations in the world who still cling to the death penalty (not that I have an opinion...), but the GDR actually executed people by guillotine until 1968, when they switched to the more acceptable Soviet method of a shot to the back of the head.

They have preserved the offices inside to look as they did when the Berlin wall collapsed in 1989, so it all has the institutional look of decrepit government offices. The furnishings look very much like American Government furniture from the 1970's. There was an interesting display on how they would work to brainwash children to the cause, as well how they recruited and rewarded "unofficial" employees, who would spy on their neighbors and family members.

Here are some of the specially designed cameras they used for photographing people from afar:

They also had on display costume pieces which they used in spying - which was quite comical to look at. It is hard to believe they took all the fake beards and mustaches and wigs and nose pieces seriously.

When the protests began to get out of control, they installed an industrial paper mulcher. This machine converted thousands of documents into paper maché before the protesters broke in and stopped them. Today Stasi records are available for public access.

 It was very strange to visit this museum. I usually worry about an Orwellian future, and here was an Orwellian past. While it is very disturbing to think of the human rights abused by the Stasi and the GDR, the museum is in many ways uplifting. The final act of the story is a triumph of the human spirit. In 1989 people started leaving candles on the steps of the "Runde Ecke," and eventually 70,000 people showed up for the peace service at the Nicholaikirche - the Stasi could not photograph them all, or even collect all their individual smells (yes, they actually did have a collection!). The revolt spread to Berlin, and you know the rest.

On Saturday, I traveled to Buchenwald, which was a concentration work-camp not far from Weimar. The first thing to know about Buchenwald is that it is very beautiful. It is about a 15 minute bus ride from Weimar through a cute little ancient town, and then up a hill through a beautiful forest. Buchenwald means "Beech Forest," and supposedly Goethe, among others, appreciated this landscape. He used to walk there with his girl friend. The GDR did demolish a good number of the prisoner barracks, so when you enter there is a wide open space. If you look through the trees you can see for miles and miles...

Where the barracks used to be...

I don't know if it was a deliberately sadistic act to place a camp where 55,000+ people would die in such a beautiful location, but it surely was the result. Another example of sadism is the crematory, which was located right next to the barracks, so that the prevailing wind would blow smoke and ash right over the camp. Today they do ask you to be silent and respectful while visiting here.

Between the ovens people have left memorials.

Here is the loading platform for the rail cars. New prisoners arrived here, others where shipped out to the death camps.

As you arrive in Buchenwald, there is a sign on the gate:

The words mean: "To each what he deserves." The words face the people on the inside of the the camp, not the outside.

I have to say that the people of Germany are to be commended for how they have chosen to face this past, and the GDR past head on. It is my understanding that school children are regularly brought to visit the camps, and learn about what happened. Perhaps we could learn from them how to confront our own past treatment of Native Americans, or the slave labor that built this nation. I spent a lot of time thinking about the human ability of denial. It is not an exclusively German ability - we have to always remember that the man who wrote "All men are created equal" was a slave owner.

Enough of this stuff! I hope I didn't bring you all down - I have been spending so much time enjoying the best human beings have had to offer, it was only fair that I visit the dark side. My next post will be more sunshine. 

Meanwhile, here are some kittens.