A Tree Top and Time Travel Path and more Mysteries in History (Berlin, 554 km)

Berlin (02.08.2018 - 05.08.2018) This is the first stage of my motorcycle ride to Bukovina and far, far beyond. Travelling from west to east, it is highly recommended to stop over in Beelitz, located about 33 mi west of Berlin. More than 100 years ago, the famous „Beelitz-Heilstätten“, a large hospital complex of about 60 buildings, were created. Nowadays, a unique tree top and time travel path is winding above the World War II ruins of an Alpine house. In the old days, the working population of the imperial capital of Berlin was supposed to recover from the then rampant tuberculosis surrounded by the finest architecture and extensive forest parkways.

A special botanical highlight is the forest roof on top of the World War II ruin of the Alpine house. Trees have been growing here since 1945. Also the other castle-like buildings are grown over by climbing plants and pioneer plants provide some extravagant motifs which are usually to be expected on temples in the jungle. Step by step, the old structures of the park are brought back to the light of day.

In the evening I went for dinner with Prof. Dr. Mariana Hausleitner  one of the most prominent, if not the most prominent German historian for Romanian and Bukovinian historiography and above all, a very good friend of mine.

Mariana drew my attention to one of her lectures, as part of the much-frequented series „Mysteries in History“, hosted by Freie Universität Berlin. Raising the question „Why concluded Romania the extermination of Jews and Roma as early as end of 1942?“, Mariana dispels the myth that Ion Antonescu‘s Jewish policy was solely the result of the crushing defeat of the Battle of Stalingrad at the beginning of 1943, offering at the same time a bunch of additional explanations. Curious and fluently in German? Then click here for viewing the videotaped lecture and place the historical developments in the right order!