Pathetic fallacy (2)

I had a very stressful morning yesterday. Too much to get into here but it involved trying to get to the Berlin Zoo on my own (while the group continued its tour with Naomi) and being confounded by language barriers and nonintuitive transportation systems. I went to Alexanderplatz instead (in the opposite direction) and shopped in a department store. I am ashamed, actually, that it came to that, but at some point one has to accept the road that throws itself ahead. Walk on it and see what happens! It wasn't all that bad for another gloomy day.
I managed to arrive at the meeting point at the designated time or a little ahead. This is an experience for the phone - if anyone is interested - or maybe an essay I can write after much reflection.
We went to a place called The topography of Terror, where we were given "a tour." That's the word, but it is clearly inadequate for what transpired.
The T of T is a modern grey building, kind of ugly actually. Where it is situated is far uglier: the former site of the Gestapo headquarters. Sebastian, our guide, an intense fellow in his mid- to late thirties, was a former mathematics and philosophy student. (He was sketchy about why he ended up, essentially, telling people horror stories for a living.) Day in and day out, he tries to show people how and why the Final Solution took place as a human enterprise, a project like building a bridge or eradicating smallpox (those are my comparisons, btw). It is the big question, isn't it" how can people systematically impose horrors on others?

For the next 60-70 min., Sebastian skimmed the surface of this terror as perpetrated by the SS. It was one of the most rivetting experiences I've ever had with a stranger. I would definitely say that his philosophy background was quite evident.

Eddie agreed that we could have stood there, looking at old photographs and documents, and listening to Sebastian for hours, sore legs or no sore legs. He was talking about things we don'tlike to hold in the mind for very long, but he did so very provocatively and engagingly (at least to us). I will never forget that hour, even if - inevitably - I will forget most of what he said.

As we were leaving, I took this picture of a small section of the wall that once divided East & West Germany. The previous photo shows the outdoor exhibit alongside a remaining length of it.