Cologne (December 30th)

In Bonn we had the chance to visit a museum to post-war German history.  This did include exhibitions on the nation’s Nazi past.  You have to really respect a country that is making a conscious effort to confront its past and realistically portray its previous wrongdoings.  Honesty will hopefully keep history from repeating itself.  Unlike America, nationalism is heavily downplayed in Germany.  There are very few German flags, and limited expression of national pride.  It’s interesting to note the contrast and see that we truly are in a different place and that the history we were taught before lives in the world beyond our borders.

The next day, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we visited Cologne.  I knew that the city’s claim to fame was a giant Cathedral, but that was about it.

I am fortunate enough to have traveled to several European counties.  I have seen Notre Dame in Paris, the Duomo of Florence, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Considering how incredible these churches were, I was uncertain if I would be impressed by Cologne’s.  When I first saw the cathedral, I was taken aback, because its height is tremendous.  After entering the building, one cannot help but marvel at the Gothic architecture.  The arches stretch huge distances skyward, and the interior is a massive volume.  The beautiful windows colored the sunlight, which radiated distinctly in the shadowy interior.  It was beautiful.

As with all of the great cathedrals, the building was filled with noisy tourists who come to see the splendor of the building.  Yet it’s a church—a house of worship.  Walking through the church I couldn’t help but feel like it seemed like a relic of Europe’s religious past—the leftovers of a bad breakup between faith and the people of Cologne.  I also wonder if the sole purpose of the church was to honor God, or if it was meant to represent the power of the Catholic Church.  Quite possibly, some people believed one or the other.  Regardless, the cathedral is a fantastic building.

Having failed to research beforehand, when we arrived to the El-De House, I had no idea what waited inside.  The El-De House is a museum located in the former Cologne Gestapo Headquarters.  In this building, thousands of people deemed suspicious or enemies of the state were brought in and “interrogated”—a Nazi euphemism for torture.  The chilling part about all of this was that in the basement of the building, where prisoners were packed like sardines into their cells, were the prisoners’ graffiti they left during their stay.

On the walls were accounts of torture, people crying out to God, words of encouragement, and words of desperation.  It was a little chilling, and added a human element to the victims of Nazi rule.

My favorite quote on the wall: “Everything is transient, even a life sentence.”

Learning the history of the Nazi regime in Cologne would fill anyone with shame, particularly that of the Catholic and Protestant churches.  Sure enough, in a photography exhibit in the museum was a photo of a Nazi rally held in from of the Cathedral, in the square where I had seen the church for the first time.  The layers of history in Germany are as perplexing as they are fascinating.