It's about 11pm here in Deutschland. I closed my computer and cracked open Harry Potter und der Stein der Wiesen to read before heading to sleep and realized that I nearly forgot to blog. Close call, I must say.
On Saturday, some classmates and I made a trip to Wittenberg. This small city is just about an hour and a half away from Berlin, and it made for a good day trip. Why Wittenberg, you might ask. Well, Wittenberg saw lots of action in the 1500s. Most notably, it was home to Martin Luther. It was where he lived, he preached, and he allegedly nailed up the 95 Theses which many interpret as the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Big deal, if you ask me. It was a place that I wanted to see because it was close to Berlin, and it has some pretty serious history. One of my classmates had asked if I wanted to go with him, and so we got together a group and made a Saturday out of it.
I don't know if it was because it was Saturday, but Wittenberg was the sleepiest town I've ever visited. We strolled up and down the streets of the Old City, and it was very, very quiet. There were people mulling around, but really nothing too significant. I got the impression that Wittenberg was a small town, but I didn't realize that it was that small. It wasn't a creepy kind of quiet or a destitute kind of quiet because there were still tourists and visitors around the streets--they were even holding the annual Wittenberg wine festival. It was more of a peaceful quiet. It was very enjoyable.
While in Wittenberg, we visited Luther's house, the Stadtkirche where he preached and the Schlosskirche where he nailed up the Theses. I could go off on another "Holy crap, history!" tangent, but I think you all can predict some of my feelings. To think what occurred there 500 years ago is remarkable. The Protestant Reformation!? On my list of Most Important People in History, Martin Luther is easily in the top three; no questions asked. I can now say that I've walked where he walked, I've seen things he saw (probably mostly in the museum) and been places he's been is exciting to me. I even saw his grave. Whoa.
I've thought about this a couple of times since I've been here in Germany, most notably while I was at Sachsenhausen. It's strange to think that people actually still live in these places. People call Wittenberg home, just as people call the district (in which the camp resides) Sachsenhausen home. These people confront influential and infamous history daily. Maybe it becomes old hat after growing up in Wittenberg or Sachsenhausen, but I just can't imagine how it could, especially with such strong opinions surrounding these events. How does history like this affect its citizens? Is it completely inescapable? Monotonous?
I know how I feel about my home. I love Kentucky, it is an incredibly magical wonderland from which comes all things that are good. My city, though, is reasonably neutral when it comes to history. How does the history of a town affect someone's pride or relationship with that town or city? Or for example Paducah. I grew up in Paducah, and I really like Paducah a lot. It is a great city, I had a wonderful childhood there, and I have wonderful memories of Paducah. I feel like I have a particularly positive relationship with Paducah shaped by my history with Paducah. While certainly Paducah has its own history, it hasn't made the impact that places like Wittenberg and Sachsenhausen have. How do these history of these places shape relationships that citizens have with their towns or how they conceive and remember their towns? Of course each person has their own personal memories, but how those personal histories affected by the broader history of the town?
I don't even know if any of this makes sense, but visiting places and thinking, "People actually still live here," really gets me wondering. This is something else that I would look into if I were a sociologist. How is personal history and memory affected by the history of the town in which they live? I'm sure it depends, but it is certainly something that I find intriguing.
Good night, one and all. Check out the pictures from Wittenberg at the photo blog. Enjoy.
Deutsches Wort des Tages:
die Erinnerung -- memory
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