David Silenus
Excellent analysis of deep cultural significance of the Gedächtniskirche — location of Berlin “Christmas market” attack …
Perfect example of how violent political Islam — and right-wing circles in the West — feed off each other in the sickest way …
“West Berliners preserved the Gedächtniskirche as a ruin —
a testament to the destruction and terror Germans brought upon themselves, a daily reminder never to forget.
So the site has layers of meaning.
Uli Kempendorff describes the Gedächtniskirche as “emotionally charged, especially for West Berliners” …
Elisabeth Ruge, another longtime Berliner, expressed heartbreak “for the people who lost their lives and were severely injured — but also for Berlin and the way we live …
“It is a place that has dealt well with so many of the problems we face across Western Europe — with immigration, with regards to Russia —
rebuilding ourselves after the collapse of the totalitarian state as a tolerant and open city.”
That’s what the crash at the Christmas market really targeted, she said.
As if on cue, right-wing German populists from the surging Alternative for Germany [ AfD ] party took to social media on Monday,
blaming the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, for welcoming migrants, calling the victims “Angela’s dead.””
At least 12 people were killed on Monday when a truck drove into a Christmas market in the shadow of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a site that has had layers of meaning.
Source: Berlin Market Attack Mars Square Where Three Eras Coexist – The New York Times