Germany 2010 32-Potsdam5

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Brandenburg State

Vacation 2010

September 26, Germany
Potsdam, Hiroshima Square & Lake Griebnitzsee

Potsdam-Babelsberg

The shores of Lake Griebnitzsee in Potsdam's Babelsberg district are famous for their ostentations villas. During the Potsdam Conference in July/August 1945, US President Harry S. Truman resided in one of these mansions. It is believed, that the final authorization for the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was given right here. With that in mind, the people of Potsdam named the square in front of Harry Truman's villa "Hiroshima Square." In July 2010, a memorial containing two original rocks, one from Hiroshima and one from Nagasaki was unveiled here.

The building in which the US-President resided in the Summer of 1945 is now offically calle the "Harry Truman Villa."

We are not sure, what the giant granite block represents, but the two small boulders were present in Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right) when the bombing happened. The inscription (in English, German, and Japanese) ends with the words "... hoping for a nuclear-free world."

Like in the peace-parks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, visitors often leave origami-cranes in memory of the victims.
After visiting Hiroshima Square, we went down to the lakeshore and checked out some of Potsdam's most pompous houses.

Our hike along the shore was cut short, because some of the mansion-owners were very concerned about their privacy and barricaded the public trail that was to allow everybody access to the lake. Seems like there are still walls to tear down in Germany.

We continued our hike at the other side of the villas.

Here, in one of Potsdam's most beautiful neighborhoods, built in the 1920s by Hermann Muthesius, we were yet again reminded of Germany's dark past. In the 1930s, many of the houses along the lake shore belonged to Jewish Actors who worked in the nearby Babelsberg Studios. When the Nazis took over, those families were soon deported to Ghettos and most of them were later killed in Concentration Camps. The houses were then sold to German actors. One of them reported later, that the deportations happened so fast, that when he moved into "his" new house, the coffee in a coffee pot left in the kitchen was still hot.

In 1993, an artist from Munich started a project placing small cobblestone-sized memorials for victims of the Holocaust in front of their former houses. Today, there are over 25,000 of these Stumbling Blocks in over 500 European towns. Three of them were placed in front of the house below left.

Deported Jews arriving at the Theresienstadt Ghetto (above).

"Stumbling Blocks" for Emil and Pauline Kauf and their daughter Clara (right). The entire family died in Theresienstadt in 1943.

Nearby is also Potsdam's "Many Generations House" a project Steffen is deeply devoted to. The association Projekthaus Potsdam Babelsberg is a centre for different kinds of projects, giving opportunities to people with various qualifications, including those without a chance on the job market.

Steffen proudly gave us a tour of the house and its different projects, especially those involving art and children (see below).

Leaving the Griebnitzsee Area, we shifted gear for one last time and visited one last castle.

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Or turn right to see Potsdam's least known castle.