Germany comes with a lot of history. Some good. Some bad. Some inspiring, some depressing. I won't go much into my thoughts on these, but thought I'd write some experiences, things I've stumbled across.
There are brass bricks in front of many houses in our neighborhood in Wannsee with simple inscriptions. They're called Stolperstein, or "Stumbling Blocks". This one says, "Here lived Wolff Joseph Deported 10.9.1942 Theresienstadt Murdered"
The gate at Dachau. It says "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Sets You Free". Work did not set these men and women free. I find it hard to believe that anyone reading this lie perpetuated and disseminated to the prisoners actually believed it. Why was it there? In hard, cold metal? Was it for the liar? Did it help him sleep at night?
Site of the Potsdam Conference where Churchill (and Attlee), Truman, and Stalin determined how to deal with Germany post-war. 
The doors of the church where Martin Luther (purportedly) nailed his 95 theses. The doors have actually since burned down, but the actions of Luther and others like him sparked a movement that changed the world. Luther was the spark, but others taught principles that laid groundwork for lasting change. Luther wasn't perfect (far from it, he was an avid anti-Semite in his later years; something other reformers fought with him about. He also had meniere's disease and I guess became much grumpier as a result...sorry dad, doesn't sound very pleasant), but going here caused me to think on my own right to judge a person using my own moral lens. It's getting harder to hold any historical figure as a hero. I suppose my mindset should change: holding people on pedestals, demanding perfection throughout their life changing to lauding the amazing things they DO accomplish (credit where credit is due) while acknowledging flaws. Still sending this one through another few spin cycles.
A window inside the church.
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