Munich

Munich

A journey to the past

There are some cities who bring up something from inside you cant either define or understand, Munich is one of them.

Dark streets, fog, the lights, this city should have been one of the most beautiful ones if WW2 didn't happen. Still some parts are beautiful by its architecture and other ones are showing us how devastating this war was. Locals told me most of those buildings were rebuilt stone by stone as 70% of this city was destroyed. 

I was staying in a hotel where near by Eva Braun used to live and Hitler was spending a lot of time (nights) there. This building is now a police station to avoid any gathering by pro Nazis. Those guys were a few meters away from where I am standing some time ago. Spooky.

We all had history classes but I find it hard to relate from what we learnt to our current lives. However walking in those streets where those buildings witnessed Hitler and his evil power in action is troubling. I saw that woman that night walking her dog by this old building which is the art Museum. How bizarre. Many years ago (not that many in fact) walking in that same street would have been a challenge or not even possible.

I talked to a few people and I am not sure if it would be taboo to sometimes talk about this dark period or just ignoring it. Well I opted to talk about it and some were telling me their parents or grand parents experienced the war and described how the city was beautiful before. So this is not that long ago! One thing I heard over and over again is we are free now and we should enjoy it. I agree and we should not take our freedom for granted.

I leave Munich with so many mixed feelings and I wish most of us would experience this, time to time, as a reminder on how fragile are our societies and they can turn into a vicious state without even noticing it.

Not many of us would dare to speak up because it s easier to step back. The question would be then when will you start speaking up? It might already be too late by the time you react.

I am amazed to see all our governments put you/us into morphine to make sure you will "follow" and certainly not speak up. 

Today's freedom is not a guaranty for one tomorrow. Speak up.