leipzig

if you want a crash course in the history of the ddr (gdr to you american readers), leipzig is really the place to go. the runde ecke, a simple exhibit in the former stasi headquarters in leipzig, gives thorough descriptions of east german life in the ddr. leipzig is the place where a lot of the demonstrations that culminated in the fall of the wall in 1989 began (though, friedrich informed me, professor connolly of our history department at berkeley would disagree about the location of the first protests).

the völkerschlacht denkmal (battle of nations monument) is another example of strange historical leftovers. finished in 1913 by the last german emperor, the memorial celebrates the defeat of napoleon some 100 years before. it's a massive building--much taller than the eiffel tower, for example. it was used by hitler, by stalin, by the ddr to proclaim the primacy of the german nation (whichever form it happened to take at the time). nationalism reformed, reworded. tough stuff.

on a lighter note: i had a great time hanging out with friedrich in the old city of leipzig--home of bach and wagner, and the place where goethe was apparently inspired to write faust (i touched faust's toe which will hopefully give me luck or something nice like that).