"For the state, to remember."

Juliya, Brian, Elizabeth and I set out at 9AM this morning, hoping to get to Berlin's 1936 Olympisches Dorf, or Olympic Village. After some brief Google Maps-ing, we decided to head to the Olympic Stadium (via the subway stop and street of the same name). The place was clearly renovated and open to ticket-buying tourists, which is no fun, but we figured that if we could get in we could have a look around and maybe find this fabled village. We asked the men at the entrance, and found out that the Olympic Village was actually outside the stadium complex a little ways down Heerstrasse...somewhere. Not exactly sure where. We left with directions to Heerstrasse (but not to the village itself...whoops) and headed in the direction the men had told us to go. After about 15 minutes of walking and not seeing anything one would associate with the Olympics or villages, we asked a parked taxi driver for directions.

"Olympic Village?! That's not even in Berlin!"

Oh.

He told us it was about 15 km down the road we were on, near where the road ends and B5 (which we later figured out is a highway) begins. With some more Google Maps-ing this evening we figured out that there is a train station right next to the village, and that trains run there straight from Alexanderplatz. So, while this adventure will have to wait until another, better-informed day, it will definitely happen soon...

Unfazed by our failure to find the Olympic Village, we hopped on the S-Bahn and headed to Potsdamer Platz to hit our next destination, the Bendlerblock. This is where General Friedrich Olbricht developed a plan for the assassination of Adolf Hitler and coup d'etat of the National Socialist regime in 1943, which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (see: Tom Cruise in Valkyrie) executed on July 20, 1944 - 67 years ago today. The plan was for Col. von Stauffenberg to get a briefcase bomb into a meeting room with Hitler at "the Wolf's Lair" in Prussia, set it off, and get back to Berlin to carry out the rest of the coup. The bomb went off as planned, but Hitler survived, and was on the radio later that evening confirming it. Olbricht, von Stauffenberg, and other members of the uprising were executed by firing squad on the the same night in what is now the commemorative courtyard of the Bendler Block.

When we got to the building around 11:15AM, we saw fancy black cars parked outside, people in very nice looking suits diverting traffic, and a small crowd of onlookers crowded outside the entrance with police milling around. We got to the front of the little group of people and spotted this scene inside:

I went to one of the police officers and asked what was going on. He started to explain that "it's July 20th, which is..." and seemed very pleased when we finished his sentence with "...yeah, the anniversary of the assassination attempt!" He told us that this was a military ceremony "for the state, to remember." WHOA. Memory. These course themes are coming up all over the place. He said the ceremony would be over in 5 or 10 minutes, and that they'd be letting us regular folks into the courtyard - the Memorial to the German Resistance - in about 15 minutes. While we were waiting we heard a trumpet (German equivalent of taps?), listened to a military band and people singing a very patriotic-sounding song, and just barely saw a flag procession through the courtyard.

Then the ceremony was over, and people started coming out. (I didn't take any pictures, but Brian and Juliya both did, so I'll put those up if/when they get online.) A lot of people in formal military wear, young and old, and a lot of people dressed up. We're guessing politicians, living members of the resistance (if that's even possible?!), family members of members of the resistance, other important people on the Berlin political/historical scene. We saw some clearly religious figures walking out, as well: a few reverends, a monk (shaved head and black robes?), and two men with large cross necklaces, black robes, and cylindrical black hats. With all the Secret Service-looking guys around (black suits and clear plastic ear pieces and everything!) around we thought that maybe, just maybe, Angela Merkel would be in there--but, if she was, she did not use the main entrance/exit. She left a very nice wreath, though.

Once the the ceremony mostly cleared out, they let everyone waiting outside go in. How lucky that my dad reminded me that July 20th is the anniversary of the assassination attempt and executions, and that we got there right when we did. Otherwise, we would have just been at this courtyard. With a statue and a plaque. And a tree. While it's appropriately somber and reflective, I feel so fortunate to have seen some of the ceremony and what the site looked like immediately after. Call it "active remembering"--and we witnessed it!

Fun fact: The street the Bendlerblock is on was renamed Stauffenbergstrasse.

Sorry it's blurry! Rough translation with the aid of, um, Google Translate: "Here in the former Army High Command Germans  organized an attempt on July 20th, 1944 to overthrow the Nazi regime. They sacrificed their lives. The Federal Republic of Germany and the German city-state ("land") of Berlin dedicate this memorial of remembrance, 1980."

The courtyard on July 20th, 2011.

SS and Wehrmacht in the same courtyard on July 21, 1944.