Today is Monday June 4, 2018 and our class journey through Germany has just begun. We started off our day by meeting at Checkpoint Charlie. This was the area in which access between the east and west Berlin was implemented during World War II. Today, there is now a museum at Checkpoint Charlie to commemorate those who lost their lives and who fought for justice in Berlin. The plan today is go to to the museum, then to the Brandenburg Tor (famous gate in Germany). The museum offered history, stories, facts, and insight into the struggles of those trying to escape Nazi Germany. In terms of transportation, I learned about the strict rules of transporting goods, people, and food over from either side of the Berlin Wall. I think the most important thing I learned was in the “Now” section of the museum in which there was an area dedicated to persisting world issues today. It is important to remember history, even if it was bad, so that you do not forget and so that you do not let history repeat itself. I think that a main take away from going to the museum would be to go and educate yourself on what happened in the past and to be aware of what is going on today and now so that we can speak up and start a change.

The Brandenburg Tor was also a cool site to see. Here, we learned about the history and purpose of the gate and how it was destroyed during World War II but then was restored. This gate was very important in Berlin during this era.

Pictured above is a car in the Checkpoint Charlie Museum that had transported 50 people across to West Berlin.