The Birthplace of the Third Reich Remembers Its History Well

By: Elise Wilson

We arrived in Munich on a rainy day and were happy to find that our hotel was right across the street from the train station. As weary travelers we found that this could not have been planned out better. This hotel wins for best view as one can look and see steeples and domes in the old town of Munich. This is what we were missing in Berlin.

As I mentioned before, Berlin is a modern city with a sprinkling of old monuments. Munich, on the other hand, looks more like old Europe with men walking the streets in lederhosen, and women in Bavarian dresses. Interestingly though about 90% of the city was destroyed after WWII, so most of the buildings have been rebuilt to look old, but are really relatively new.

Ms. Guiney and I went on a city walking tour of the Third Reich because Munich is the birthplace of the National Socialist Worker’s Party and it was Hitler’s favorite city. Our tour guide was very informative and had many anecdotal stories and details about the events which transpired from 1918-1933. As a history teacher I was familiar with all the events, but our charismatic tour guide brought the facts I knew to life. The famous beer hall putsch, for example, was far more engaging than I thought. There were many mishaps and ironic twists that I did not know. For example, Hitler’s plan was foiled because he forgot to lock the door containing the leaders of the Munich government. During the actual firefight 11 soldiers were standing about 20 feet from Hitler and they all fired. Not one bullet hit him as a bodyguard stood in the way! By the way, that body guard survived as well.

Pictured: The area where the putsch took place.

Aside from the stories about Hitler and the rise of the Third Reich, what also struck me were the diminutive memorials throughout the city remembering all those who were victims, including many Germans of the Nazis’ reign, and those who resisted the Nazis. Some resisted by refusing to walk down a road where they would be required to give the Nazi salute. This small act of resistance came at a high cost, one could end up in a camp for “re-education.”
Pictured: Bronze path to mark where resistors walked.

A more overt act of resistance was a students movement that produced leaflets informing the German people of the crimes the Nazis were committing. They suffered a horrible death of decapitation with axes, not a guillotine, when they were eventually caught, and there heads were plastered on the covers of newspapers throughout Germany warning what could happen if Germans did not follow the Nazis.

And this is what is important for me and all my students to keep in mind, that the Nazis used such terrorizing tactics on everyone, that many many Germans were also victims of the Nazis. Today Germans have to live with the guilt of about 12 years of their history. Our guide said that there are very few large memorials because one does not want to be faced everyday with such immense guilt that a large memorial will evoke. At the same time the Germans, unlike other countries deal with their history. Children as young as 6 start to learn about the Nazis, and throughout a child’s education in Munich, he will go to Dachau 3 times. Bavarian soldiers go to Dachau with an order to act for justice if the army ever asks them to go down this horrible road again. They want all of us to learn from their mistakes. Perhaps there are lessons for all of us not only of preventing atrocities like those committed by the Nazis, but also lessons on how we would deal with our own history.

Tempus fugit

Pictured: Monument to the White Rose Resistance -- the student martyrs.