While in Amsterdam, I had my favorite Dutch food: poffertjes! along with some hot chocolate

I spent my fall break traveling across a smattering of countries in Europe: Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain. Through this experience, I was constantly reminded of the importance of place. The location in which people were raised greatly affects the outcomes of their lives—the situations they encounter, the personality characteristics they develop, the values they hold most dear. I’ve noticed this as I’ve compared the differences between people from the Midwest, East Coast, and West Coast, but it became particularly evident to me as I was walking along the remains of the Berlin Wall. This, perhaps, is because my heritage stems from Germany, as my grandmother was born in Berlin around the beginning of WWII.

This is a mural from the East Side Gallery˜ the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) which depicts how an East Berlin citizen would need to cross both the Berlin Wall, a „death walk‰ where soldiers in guard towers were told to shoot and kill any who crossed, before crossing another wall into West Berlin where they could be shipped off to West Germany.

My tour guide explained the economic climate of German prior to WWII in which the German currency was horribly inflated, and people were very poor and hungry. Thus, having a government that was providing work and food for people was a relief for much of the population, and as I read at the Topography of Terror exhibit, many Germans ignored the atrocities of the Holocaust because they were finally prospering. My great-grandmother, for instance, was grateful for the changes which were being made so that she could provide for her four children while her husband was serving in the Luftwaffe and was a POW during the War. For my grandmother, losing the War meant fleeing to then Czechoslovakia and having to later walk back to Germany. My German family was born and raised in a location in which it was conventional to be a part of the Nazi regime, to be against Hitler would have been much more challenging (although the right thing to do). Alternatively, my American family fought in WWII against Hitler, and when they won the War they got to go home. As Americans, it was easy to be fighting on the right side and against Nazi Germany.

When I think of Germany, curry isn’t usually the first spice to come to mind, however Berlin is (rightfully) known for the currywurst: a grilled sausage topped with some sort of curry-ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder with a random hunk of bread on top. It was possibly the best thing I ate while traveling.

German children‚s pop-up books, including classics like Peter Pan and Cinderella.

For this particular moment in history my ancestors were living in the same time, fighting on the same land, and fighting for entirely different causes merely because of where they were born. I think this is a little bit humbling and thought-provoking to consider how greatly one’s identity and actions are affected by their surrounding culture, time period, and location.

I love fall. I love Berlin. I love fall in Berlin.

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Danielle is a student at Northwestern College studying at Florence University of the Arts during the Fall 2013 term.