Wednesday was spent in Wannsee, a forested district in southwestern Berlin. We all boarded the S-Bahn and made the trip in the morning, and found ourselves standing in front of the famous Haus der Wannsee Konferenz just a short while later. This is the house where Hitler's "Final Solution" was planned in grim detail. An exhibition on the Holocaust was inside -- an exhibition that many of us thought was better than that in the Jewish Museum we visited in our first week here. It was strange to think that such gruesome acts could have been planned in such a lovely setting; outside the windows of the conference rooms the waves lapped against the shore, the trees swayed in the summer breeze, and we could look out on Strandbad Wannsee (public swimming beach) across the bay.
After touring the house, we walked through the garden and sat on the (ant-infested) lawn to hold our class discussions. After that, we were off for bratwurst and beer from a little stand near the water.
Above: Rose and Stacy during class discussion at Wannsee.
Below: John contemplates class themes as he stares longingly at the water on a hot day.
After a long series of class meetings by the water, many in the group wanted to be IN the water. And so, after a short S-Bahn ride to the other side of the bay, we ended up at Strandbad Wannsee, a fairly large beach with nice facilities.
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