Bebelplatz is an underground library memorializing the Nazi Book Burning on May 10, 1933. It could hold the 20,000 books that were burned because they were considered to be against Nazi ideology.
This week is the end of my fellowship time in Berlin. My get-pushed challenge from @vankrey is to capture something that represented my stay in Berlin, focusing on the emotional aspect. Fortunately, this memorial was finally cleaned so it could be seen. I have walked right past it every day, and I used to wonder why tour groups would all be peering at the completely-opaque-from-dirt glass that was inset in the ground but you could not see anything. But now that I see what it is, I find it haunting and an appropriate memorial. I also find it to represent the emotional side of my particular stay since I was here on a fellowship from the Berlin State Library, and this memorial is of books that were taken from that library and burned across the street.
Wow, I'm in tears. Literally. You always have me thinking and responding emotionally. The photo is amazing--the narrative completes it. The depths to both really resonate with me. Fav. Fav doesn't even do it justice Junko. Truly. Safe travels--onto Japan. :)
