Okay, just a bit on Berlin...

In my pictures you'll see some of the WWII Jewish Holocaust Memorial, which is called Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, or 'Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe

Germany is trying to come to terms with the actions they committed in WWII, and this process is quite fascinating. Instead of a general memorial to the victims of concentration camps, the city of Berlin is giving each persecuted group their own memorial (Jews, gypsies, homosexuals). The Jewish community did not want to only commemorate the victems of the concentration camps because many more Jews have suffered in Europe then were in the gas chambers, hence the title.

The memorial was brilliantly designed; a series of silver colums of various lengths that inhabit a large city block. One walks through these columns , becoming almost lost in the depth of it, yet there is always a clear view to the end (the columns run symmetrically north/south/east/west, like NY City blocks). Decidedly abstract, walking through those columns gives the conscious visitor a sense of desolation and loneliness, yet the message does not intend to hit you on the head (like the list of fallen soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial).

Note the use of the word 'murder' in the title -- this is Germans trying to be very honest and truthful with what happened, believing that is the only way to find any sort of reconciliation with the past.

Another poignent project; a researcher is compiling lists of names of murdered victims and what apartments they lived in. When this is located a small plaque with their names is installed in the sidewalk outside the apartment, so these people are personified and recognized, and not forgotton.

I also saw the place where Hitler committed suicide in his bunker during the final days. Berliners have made it into a parking lot. A fitting decision.