Berlin Memorial Reflection From 3/19

     I was not in class when we did this activity, but after doing a little bit of research, I found that there were memorials in the form of signs for the Jewish decrees placed on the Jews during the Holocaust. The lampposts on the streets of the Bavarian Quarter of Berlin's Schöneberg district have signs on them with one side stating a decree that was placed on the Jews during the Holocaust and the other side being a simple picture relating to the decree.  Decrees were basically laws/restrictions put on the Jews during the Holocaust by Hitler and the Nazis, telling them what they could not do and what they were required to do; what they couldn't have, and what they were required to have.  There were tons of decrees placed on the Jews from being forced to wear the Yellow Star of David with 'Jew' written on it, to being restricted from using telephones, to not being allowed to purchase newspapers or magazines.  All of these decrees were absurd, as they cruel and unfair to the Jews who should've been able to have every right that any other human being had (specifically in Germany) but they were dehumanizing these people, and taking away their rights to some of the greatest pleasures in life, and even some necessities, like education!

     I think this monument was built to show the people in this area of Berlin specifically, though people in Germany and everywhere else, the absolutely illogical and irrational decrees put on the Jews during the Holocaust, to commemorate the fact that the Jews had to abide by these decrees, and to remind people not to take advantage of their freedoms because of this, because people had it so much worse!  As the decrees began to add up, Jews were practically restricted from everything!  Things we take advantage of, like going to school and being able to go to the grocery store whenever we would like, were freedoms taken away from the Jews.  This memorial was built to remind people of that.  To remind the people that walk and drive past it everyday, and the people who learn about it, that the Jews had so much taken away from them, and that we need to start being more grateful for what we have.  We need to think about and understand how terrible life was with the decrees for the Jews and how lucky we are to not have to live in a world where everything is taken away from us.

     I think I would have trouble dealing with a lot of the different restrictions placed on Jews through the decrees, but the two that I think I would have the biggest trouble dealing with would be the being restricted from going to school, and being restricted from participating in any athletic activity in public.  Despite the fact that I may not always love school, I would never want to lose the opportunity to attend school, and that's what happened to the Jewish people after the decree was placed saying that Jews were not allowed to attend schools.  I would never be able to live happily, knowing that I wasn't getting a proper education to set me up for a successful future.  I would be worried and upset, and be disappointed that I would not have the opportunity to learn and grow everyday!  I would also have trouble, like I said, being restricted from participating in athletic activities in public.  One of the things that I love best that I do, and that I would never be able to stop doing, is Irish Dancing.  Irish Dancing would be considered athletic activity because dancing works your body out and requires a lot of energy and stamina.  We do a lot of performances and competitions, which would all be open to the public to view, and so I would only be able to practice my dancing but never compete or perform for the world to see, and I would definitely be disappointed.  The sport and art I adore so much I would no longer be able to share, and I wouldn't really have a point in doing it because why should you be a part of a sport or art form that you can only practice, and not show anyone what that practice has led to?  These are two of hundreds of decrees that I know I wouldn't be able to live with for sure, but there are so many others as well!  The decrees were disgusting, and this monument will definitely bring attention to this fact.

(Because I wasn't in class when we did this activity, I only got to see the wall of decrees once closely, and wasn't actually completing/writing this blog when I saw it, so I don't really remember how many decrees were passed in certain years.  Every website I've gone to either doesn't show the years each decree was passed in, or shows a pretty even amount of decrees passed in each year.  So, I can't exactly comment on why I think more decrees were passed in some years than others.)