There once were three little Mormon boys in Hamburg. They didn't like what Hitler was doing. One would listen to the BBC, write anti-Nazi pamphlets, and then all three would put them up in Hamburg. The ringleader, Helmuth Hubener, was eventually sent here to Plotzen(lake) (now Memorial) Prison where he was beheaded. This was a place for political-type prisoners - 3,000 died here.

The other day I watched as the last 'little Mormon boy' placed a wreath in the execution room of Plotzensee prison in memory of his friend.










This is him! Karl-Heinz Schibbne and he lives in Utah now. He also spent several years in Nazi prisons, was drafted into the army, captured by the Soviets and then got to stay in their prisons until 1949! He was truly moved when he placed the wreath in memory of his friend...








This is where his friend, Helmuth, died. Hitler himself rejected requests for clemency. The beam above (the original was destroyed in the war) is where the Nazis would hang people...












This is an original picture I found on Wikipedia. On the right is the guillotine they also used to kill people - Helmut was decapitated.

I just found it truly freaky...the past always seems so far away. Look at the above photo and then this one...it doesn't seem so 'far away' now, does it?







This is the original door that Helmut and 3,000 others (Czech resistance fighters, the coup people who tried to kill Hitler, etc.) walked through before they died. When the guillotine was taking too long they just turned to hanging as 'quicker' and, probably, cheaper....

Now look up at the above photo....the door is just out of sight to the right....how would you feel? I keep on thinking about that...walking through that door, looking to the right, seeing a big black drape, the drape being opened, seeing the guillotine...records say he had a slight smile on his face...so, I just hope that he felt peace in his last moment...

And then to add to the situation....I don't know if you can tell, but the cement by the door and where the guillotine used to be is markedly a 'reddish-pink' color as opposed to the other cement farther away....I don't know, but it was suggested to me that the guillotine and the blood is the reason for it...definitly possible....


Also at the memorial they have an urn with dirt from all the Nazi concentration camps...I find it kind of an odd 'gesture', but I also think when you're dazed and confused in the 50's and 60's about your country's history and what you or your relatives might have done during the war, you try to do your best to remember/atone for/relieve your guilt/etc.

And yet another place that I don't know what to do with, psychologically/mentally/emotionally speaking...so much suffering...and it still goes on...

This is the cross-section by me chapel...'it's beginning to look a lot like...FALL! Everywhere you go!...' It's truly beautiful and nice to experience...really bright warm sun but with a crispness and chill in the air...it's kind of like a visual apple...;)










'Follow the yellow-leaved road! Follow the yellow-leaved road!'

So during the Festival of Lights they also lit up my Funkturm...it looked more like a space ship thingy to me, maybe we truly are communicating with aliens...eh?











If this is the case, then these are the intrepid 'Richard Dreyfussei ' who will represent Mother Earth...ay yai yai!











Apparently aliens like colors as opposed to sounds like in 'Close Encounters'...they used a plethora (would you say I have a plethora?) of colores to communicate with the Mother Ship...and if you don't believe it's there, just read Louis Farrakhan's 'Mother Ship' experience and find out what is in the future for anyone of the Caucasian persuasion...t's on the web!













And there she be, the bee-eautiful, Berlin!

So Berlin had it's 'Festival of Lights' (oddly enough, during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights at the same time - coincidence you ask?) and lit up famous buildings in the city in a 'special' way.

This is Alexanderplatz (former 'East Berlin) with the Marien Church and the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) that the communists built to 'out-do' the West (in my opinion). What's cool and ironic, is that when the sun hits the sphere of the tower just right, there is this huge cross that reflects off (odd in an atheist, anti-religion state). The locals call it the 'Pope's Revenge'!











This is the 'Contemporary Art' gallery....looking its rainbowishiness! (This word does not probably exist in German, but German is amazing in that you can truly create words that make absolute sense, but some rule in English says you can't ;)

And here it is! The FIRST (didn't realize that...Frankfurt was finished two years later) German temple! The Freiberg Temple was built in former 'communist' East Germany in 1985. Yes, people will point to things such as a wrecked economy, environment, etc., but I still think this is one of the main reasons 'the Wall fell' and that 'East' Germany ceased to be.

I honestly like the design of it (architecturally) and the inside is pretty as well.




Here I be...



















And here are the rest of us....we as a Young Single Adult group from Berlin came down to the temple (having 30+ BYUer's definitely made things easier, i.e. renting a bus, etc.)...

Oh...beautiful Paris! I love looking out my window every night and seeing the Eiffel....I mean, the Funkturm (Radio Tower) ;) Isn't it cool though? I like it alot....it was built in 1926 and was where the first regular television program originated in 1935!










My crazy camera! The night shots it takes are never what I actually saw, but still cool! This was a really cool night! Big, bright moon and then my Funktower! Or-some!












The Funk tower is right next to Messe Berlin (Exposition Berlin) where they hold all of their expositions...








I read that this was built in the 1930's - definitely has that fascist 'you are a puny nothing in light of the all-important, powerful state!'