Every city has its unique product - its main attraction.  Detroit has automobiles, Paris fashion, and Tokyo noodles. Berlin has history - and plenty of it. Unfortunately, much of this history is monstrous and tragic. I can barely walk down any street in this city without coming across a plaque, marker or memorial remembering those lost to the cruelties of Berlin's unique history. Every journey across town becomes a journey through the darkest days of the twentieth century.

All this history is really a bit exhausting and overwhelming. Around every corner and down every street I am constantly confronted with some of the worst chapters of Western Civilization. But this struggle to remember, to remember the victims, the perpetrators and those who resisted is all part of 'Vergangenheitsbewältigung' the German word for the process of coming to grips with the past. And, while this process is discomforting, enraging and saddening, it is only by engaging in it that we may regain our common humanity and develop the courage and determination to prevent such catastrophes in the future.