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THE NARRATIVE ARC
How Berlin’s Memorials Warn America Today
History has never been so relevant
In a city where history is etched into every street corner, Berlin’s memorials offer urgent lessons about democracy’s fragility and authoritarianism’s dangers. As America faces its own democratic challenges in 2025, these powerful warnings from Germany’s past have never been more relevant.
Last Friday, I stood at a nondescript parking lot in Berlin where Hitler’s bunker once existed. Nothing marks this spot as extraordinary — no towering memorial, no explanatory plaque detailing the final days of a dictator whose ideology devastated a continent. To avoid creating any form of shrine for neo-fascists, Berlin opted for open space, cars, and the quiet understanding that buried beneath this mundane surface lies a dark historical depth.
Berlin doesn’t hide from its past. Instead, it has transformed its painful history into a citywide exhibition on the consequences of fascism, totalitarianism, and division.
Walking Berlin’s streets today, I wonder what Washington, D.C., might look like decades from now if America continues…
