Berlin's ITB promotes Germany's tourist attractions: learn about Mendelssohn wedding march, Disney's castle, the Pied Piper and more

That's the German flag, horizontal stripes of black, red and yellow. Not to be confused with the Belgian flag which has vertical stripes and the yellow in the middle whilst the German flag has red in the middle.

Belgian flag.

Berlin's ITB
I just received a notice about ITB Berlin, an invitation to go and have a chance to win air tickets to somewhere. This would involve me in spending time and money on getting to Berlin.

ITB is in March. I have never been to Berlin and it is somewhere on my wishlist. If I were both in the travel trade and nearby I would go. If I were not in the travel trade, just a traveller, and nearby, I would be watching the English language and German language press to find out what is new and exciting.

My first query, the first thought in my head was, what does ITB stand for?

Wiki and the website of the organization answer that question.

ITB is German for international tourist borse = with a double dot above the o - sorry but the way to type double dots inside blogger is eluding me. I have not found it - yet. (I just heard a speech about not saying no but saying not 'yet'.) The letters and sounds of b and p are close together and borse and purse are the link. It is a purse or pocket or exchange. So, international tourism exchange, not just an exchange of information, although that comes first, but taking action, trading, booking of hotels and events and setting up holidays and travel and services and events for you and me.

Berlin's Attractions
If  I go to any event or conference I try to arrive a day early to be sure of being on time at the start and like to stay later to visit the city. What if you are reminded about Berlin as a destination, can't get to the event, but wonder about going anyway? You might well start a tour of Germany in the capital, the most populated city in Europe after London, England.

Berlin is familiar as the backdrop to the city of Cabaret, the film starring Liza Minelli. Berlin was a divided city, now reunited. Famous for the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie.

My checklist of places to visit or re-visit starts with the Berlin Wall:

Berlin wall section.
Photo by VWPolonia75 from Wikivoyage.

1 Berlin Wall Museum
See the colourful murals. Read about those who made it across, those who didn't, sadly 130 casualties, and how the wall came down with great celebration, reuniting the city, West and East.

Allied Museum, Berlin. Section of the Wall displayed.

2 The Jewish Museum
Next on my list is the Jewish Museum, Europe's largest Jewish museum.

Moses  Mendelssohn, portrait, Jewish Museum, Berlin, Germany.

In the largest Jewish museum in Europe, the main old museum contains portraits of Einstein and Mendelssohn, and the eyeglasses of Moses Mendelssohn (son of Mendel). He had a hunchback and when told his young lady heard of the hunchback and refused to see him, he asked for just one minute to speak to her and apologize.

He told her, "Marriages are made in heaven and my guardian angel was told my wife-to-be would have a hunchback.
"My guardian angel replied, 'She will be unhappy. Let my young man have the hunchback - and bear all the world's troubles for her.'
"Sorry to have taken up your time. But if you liked what you heard, may I speak to you again one day, for just one minute?"
She saw him again, heard him again, and married him.

He spoke in German, so I reckon my translation into English is as good as others at capturing the essence of what he said so warmly.

Did he use those spectacles to read and teach himself Latin to become one of the leading philosophers of his day, immortalised in a play about himself and his friend Lessing? Or did he lose his sight studying by candle-light? Go to the museum and be inspired to learn more about famous, extraordinary people, and the daily lives of ordinary people, from the past.

His grandson wrote the Mendelssohn wedding march. (The one which sounds like descending a staircase. The rival tune is the one parodied as Here comes the bride.)

Jewish Museum Photo from Libeskind in Wikipedia.

The Jewish museum's modern extension is the famous or notorious, controversial Holocaust memorial, designed by architect Libeskind, all jagged and disorientating. Love it or hate it, a must see.

Garden of Exile, Jewish Museum.

The Holocaust Memorial

The Holocaust Memorial, Berlin.Photo by Alexander Blum in Wikipedia.

Other cities and attractions include:

2 Bonn - Beethoven Museum - the country is full of museums connected to music

3 Wine regions with wine tasting
German is renowned for white wines. Riesling is the grape which supposedly smells of petrol. (Americans say gasoline.)

4 Romantic Road (castles on rivers and lakes, black and white medieval villages on riversides and hillsides)
Rudesheim and many more - follow the trail

5 Theme parks

6 For romantic adults and young adults the inspiration for Sleepy Beauty Disney castle Neuschwanstein (German for new swan stone) in Bavaria, Germany.
See the three fairytale castles built by the 'Mad King' of Bavaria.

r	Ximonic, Simo Räsänen (post-processing) & Tauno Räsänen (photograph). Wikipedia.

7 WWII and Nazi past -
Nuremberg museum
Durer's house.

Durer's House, Wikipedia.

Belsen
(where Anne Frank and her sister died)

Munich -
 and Dachau where a map of the railway lines shows how trains took people from every major Nazi-controlled city in Europe via Germany to be exterminated across the border at Auschwitz-Birkeau in Poland.

8 Munich and the Oktoberfest
For beer, wine, food and fun.

9 The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Pied Piper's House, Hamelin. Photo by Bush6984 from the Wikipedia article on the Pied Piper.
The story supposedly records an event in the 13th century, when a rat-catcher in pied (multi-coloured) clothing, offered to lure away the rats (which may have spread plague) but was not paid more than half the promised sum, or not paid at all. In revenge lured away all the children (except three who were lame, deaf and blind). They were never seen again.

Possible explanations are that it is a legend with the pied piper symbolizing death from the plague era. If it was a real event, maybe children went dancing with a piper and disappeared into a sinkhole or the sounds and rhythm of the dancing sparked an avalanche.

Records suggest that orphans and unemployed youngsters emigrated, following brightly dressed recruiters. This resulted in the surnames from Hamelin appearing in other cities to this day.

The story was immortalised in German by Goethe, and the brothers Grimm, translated into English. The popular poem in English by Robert Browning is wonderfully rhythmic.

When I visited Hamelin I looked for a hotel where tourists could stay. When a hotel owner showed me his bedrooms and I tried to take a photo, he angrily told me to leave! I was surprised. Any English or American hotel owner would have been delighted, moved lights, asked me to write them up on Tripadvisor. I thought my PR might have been lacking.

Then I picked up a news sheet on the bus which gave an accusing account of a dispute about the funding of a re-enactment of the Pied Piper story.  I thought, so, centuries on, nothing has changed. Chilling.

However, that was a long time ago. Besides, every hotel and hotel owner is different.

The Romantic Road

Photo by Pedelecs.
Dinkelsbuhl. Romantic Road. Germany.

 Follow the trail maps and the signposts along the romantic road through riverside and hillside villages with steep gables.

Places to find local food: Rathaus Ratskeller
Berlin has a red Rathaus.

Berlin. Red Rathaus. Picture from Wikipedia.

On the main square of most cities is a converted medieval Rathaus, not a rat house (for that tale go to Hamelin) but the town hall.  The cellar or Ratskeller with big pillars is usually made into a vast cafeteria serving set meals. A bit like the British medieval banquets at stately homes. Girls and ladies and lads and men in olde worlde costume serve flagons of beer and local food at assorted prices. Busy at lunchtimes.

One notable Ratskeller I visited was in Bremen near the statue of the three animals which are a city folk legend and symbol.
Old picture of Bremen Ratskeller from Wikipedia.

Expect music, historical pictures and framed documents and local history and information on local sites and guided tours. Austrian cities have the same system of the Rathaus and Ratskeller restaurant.

German White Wine
I sampled many wines and stood on the Heidelburg Tun, a giant barrel in Heidelberg castle.
German wines include:
Auslese (late picked and sweeter as it has longer to ripen)
Black Tower (brand of white wine in black bottle)
Liebfraumilch (Our dear lady's milk, referring to the Madonna)
For something sweet, Boppard ice wine tasting in a shop on the main square of Boppard. Must book.

Useful Websites
To learn or brush up your German for free on the internet
duolingo.com

Overview of Travel
GERMANY AND BERLIN
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Germany
https://www.visitberlin.de/en
See Germany and Berlin in wikipedia, wikivoyage, wikitravel, tripadvisor.
https://www.itb-berlin.com/

BERLIN WALL
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-wall-memorial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Berlin_Wall_segments

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187323-d196239-r542038704-Memorial_of_the_Berlin_Wall-Berlin.html
https://freetoursbyfoot.com/checkpoint-charlie/

JEWISH MUSEUM
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Jewish_Museum%2C_Berlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Mendelssohn

PIED PIPER
Pied Piper House Restaurant, Hamelin, Germany.
https://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g198595-d1356484-Reviews-Rattenfaengerhaus-Hameln_Lower_Saxony.html

ROMANTIC ROad
https://www.romanticroadgermany.com/

WINE TOURS
https://www.worldwidewinetours.com/germany/german-wine-tours/
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187345-d6698203-r391171629-Vinothek_Georg_Breuer-Ruedesheim_am_Rhein_Hesse.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have many more posts on cities in Europe, the USA, Canada, Asia and worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Kate and William's Tour to Berlin and Memorials You Might Visit

 Kindertransport Museum memorial, Liverpool Street station, London.

My photos of the Kindertransport statues are copyright. The ones in Wikipedia are free - check their photos and permission.

Problem
Kate and William visited Stutthof near Gdansk in Poland, then flew to Berlin where they saw the Berlin Holocaust memorial and a camp. Yes, but they took a plane between them.

Their visit has encouraged others to follow in their footsteps to Holocaust museums and camps and memorials. Where are the Holocaust museums, concentration camps and memorials and which could you see on a visit to Berlin, Germany, Poland or another country? A Tripadvisor reader asked which ones were within reach of a stay centred on Berlin.

Why visit more than one? If you are not trying to trace an ancestor's route, why would you impose that sadness on yourself, whether on a business trip or a holiday?

The knowledge that it is there dominates other thoughts in your mind. It's like looking at road accidents. You are mesmerised by the horror. Feel that by witnessing, although you cannot help anybody who is dead, you can somehow prevent future tragedies to yourself and others by learning lessons and warning other people how to watch out for danger. You feel that it would be disrespectful to ignore it and just party.

A visit to Auschwitz is very harrowing. I had put off visiting Poland for years and when I reached Poland I found visiting Auschwitz was unavoidable. The Poles want people to know that although it was on Polish soil it was organised by the German Nazi party. Every Polish school takes children there. The concentration camp is on most tours from Krakow, either as the main feature of the tour or part of a combined tour to other locations such as a salt mine, and Auschwitz was just as bad as I feared.

Answer to tour planning problem - lists

GERMANY
Berlin has the Berlin Wall museum on general tours but you may want to spend time at:
Berlin - Holocaust museum, the one with the concrete block maze outside.
Munich - Dachau camp.

POLAND
Krakow, former capital. Beautiful small city with a preserved square and medieval cathedral. Preserved because it was just across the border from Germany and the Germans invaded and quickly captured the small city by surprise and made it their Nazi HQ. Jews were sent on trains from German and all over Europe to Auschwitz outside the city.

1 Auschwitz
This is where Anne Frank and her sister and mother were sent. Elderly and children were gassed, the useful able bodied adults who survived selection set to work. Learn that the able bodied prisoners had tattooed numbers because after three months they had aged and thinned so much that you could not recognize them from photos taken on arrival.

2 Birkenau
You can do both on a combined tour. Although it is possible to visit Auschwitz without Birkenau, the main day tour takes you to both. As people selling tours tell you, it is essential to see both to understand. The shock is that it goes on for miles. Field after field, each separated from the next by barbed wire and huge, high watch towers, with a different field for each country and language group. This field of hangars with bunk beds for the French; this field for the Germans; this field for the Poles; this field for the Greeks and so on; and on; and on.

3 Schindler's Factory
Finish with a story which had a happy end for many, a museum in the former factory of Schindler, with videos of survivors saying 'what he did for me'.
Liberated by Russians.

Warsaw
The large capital to tour. Many tours will first pass the Chopin monument, then the Jewish Ghetto and / or the outside of the Jewish Museum. Many other tours go inside both the Warsaw war museum and the Jewish Museum. (I asked for another private tour going to the Ghetto, the Synagogue and the Orphanage.)
Jewish Museum.
WWII Orphanage. Statue outside (ask a driver on a private tour to stop) and exhibition inside the orphanage. (Tours by appointment because the place is in use and not enough visitors or guides to run a tour except on demand.) Heroic head was offered the chance to be rescued by the resistance, but chose to accompany the little children on the train to Auschwitcz where he and they died.
(Jewish cemetery has WWII memorial. Interesting, but not a major attraction.)
(Synagogue.)

Czech Republic
Prague. Large Jewish Museum and a combined ticket for a group of synagogues and cemeteries.
Terezin camp. The place where the Red Cross were deceived into thinking all was well, as shown in a film. (Prague also has a museum on Franz Kafka. )

Tips
Belsen. Back in Germany - where the retreating Germans took the Auschwicz survivors on a forced march.  Then they died of mal treatment or mal nourishment, although Red Cross food was stockpiled outside. Anne Frank and her sister died here.

On a tour through Germany we unexpectedly drove past the sign to Belsen but had no time to stop because we had a route with hotels and meetings arranged and had not looked at the map and seen that we were passing Belsen. Liberated by Americans.

What are the main features of each place?

Dachau
I went to Dachau near Munich first. We started with the jollier tourist sites marked on maps.  We had photographed the fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein immortalised by Disney, spent a jolly evening in the wine district. Then before leaving the area, took a sobering look at Dachau.

I remember staring at the map of all the train routes to Auschwicz. The texts and human guides seemed to think it was very important. I wondering why a map of train routes was such a prominent feature. I was more interested in finding out about people than looking at maps. The grim stories of what life was like and how people died, and the glad news of the liberation of the camp and the survivors. Also the physical evidence, the photos and written records, human witnesses of the liberation - proving that the holocaust took place.

UK
Jewish Museum in London. Kindertransport statue on Liverpool Street station. Memorial to Anne Frank in a central London Park.
Other Jewish museums and Holocaust memorial centres in other cities.
In London, England, it seemed absurd that anybody would doubt the holocaust. Later my mother told me that post-war the cinemas had shown news reels.

My mother, who lost her first husband in WWII at El Alamein, had lost nobody in the holocaust. But she sympathised and chatted to everybody in shops in Edgware and Hendon and Golders Green. I remember her diverting to a shop to buy stockings, even though they were more expensive, because she felt sorry for the woman serving and wanted to give her a sale and talk and listen to her. The assistant would enquire after our family. Then when mother enquired after the woman's family. She would respond happily about one relative in England. Then she would look sad and say of another relative add, "I had a ... but. "

Years later I met two people at my Writing Group. One elderly woman with a German accent came to the UK just before WWII. She said of her mother, "She wrote to me in 194.* but I never heard from her again." (*I forget the exact date.)

My travel agent had a family photo. Her cousin survived WWII, as an unborn baby. When there was a roundup in a block of flats, the people upstairs knocked on the front door and said, "Your pregnant daughter, quick, come up to our flat."  The travel agent's cousin was the unborn baby whose mother was saved. My travel agent said to me, "You see, there are good people."

Tips
Check out websites for (alphabetical order):
Auschwicz
Belsen
Berlin
Birkenau
Jewish Museum, London
Kindertransport
Krakow
Munich
Schindler's factory
Schindler
TripAdvisor forum on camps within reach of Berlin
Wiki article on list of concentration camps
Yad Vashem website (Documentation of those lost in the Holocaust, stories from survivors and tributes to the Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews, such as Schindler.)

Kinderstransport Memorial, Liverpool Street Station, London.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts about destinations in German, and Poland, and England, holocaust memorials and synagogues and WWII worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.