German Pride

Today was so amazing. We went on a Nazi tour of Munich. It was a strange to see such a beautiful city which has so much sad history. We would see beautiful gardens and then learn that they were used by the Nazi party to show degenerate art. Or a beautiful square where we would stop to see a stone in place where the Munich synagogue used to be.

We saw the modern art museum where the nazi party used to display Aryan or acceptable art. I couldn't help but think about what a perfect use of the space. It's difficult to decide what to do with infrastructure the Nazi party used in Germany but changing it to display the exact art they tried to shame, seems almost poetic.

Then we went to the University of Munich. First of all, it was an extremely beautiful University. Probably the most beautiful I have ever seen. There, there as a White Rose Exhibit where we learned about the handful of students who were part of a student resistance. They mailed and tried spreading pamphlets urging people against the Nazi party. Of course, this is such an amazing story because at a time where you were so lucky to be who you were and to be safe, it is incredibly beautiful to put yourself in harm's way and eventually sacrifice yourself for what you believe in.

They were caught, arrested and beheaded only a few days after. I read a bit about the interrogation and it made me quite sad, they seemed to be tortured into telling the Nazi party about friends of theirs who helped and whatnot. What a horrible place to be put in.

I was also impressed with the story of Sophie Scholl in general. It's not often you hear about woman from this time period being amongst one of the bravest in her country. I fully enjoyed everything about the day.

When we finished the tour, we went back to get ready for the world cup game. Nothing makes me appreciate a happy event like this quite like a day of learning about Nazi Germany. It was spectacular. I could also not help but think how amazing it is to see so much German pride. Sports can be a good way to bring people together. Germany lives in the shadow of WWII, I could imagine shortly after it must not have been a very good thing to say you're from Germany and it's nice to see the pride and see Germany writing a new history for itself.