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An Open Air Cell in the Stasi Prison, East Berlin (click to enlarge)
Among a thousand images that remain with me from nearly a month in six countries of Europe, this one best explains what was at stake during the Marshall Plan. What's missing from this picture, of course, is the guard with a machine pistol who would have been standing on that wall if you were a prisoner here. But what struck me about this view is that, in spite of the machine pistol, this bit of sky was the most beautiful thing any inmate of the Stasi prison was ever allowed to see. I was told that former prisoners who visit the prison often break into tears at the sight of this little bit of sky.
Bear in mind that prisoners of the Stasi were not criminals in the ordinary sense of the word; they were political prisoners. They could be, and often were, imprisoned for nothing more than complaining about the government in a private letter to a friend, or even for failing to turn in a friend for planning an escape to the West.
As I stood here, and paced the halls of this now empty prison, I thought of the Cold War movies of the 80's that had been criticized in the media as being exaggerations of the difference between communism and freedom. And I realized that if anything, those movies had understated the case. Here was a calm, efficient, and methodical evil at work every day; people were tortured here, by one method or another, until 1989. The Marshall Plan instigated an economic recovery of Europe and the whole world that, together with the military buildup of the United States and our allies, hastened the defeat of an ideology that was too inhuman to survive forever, but was so inhuman in its daily existence that containing and defeating it was the top priority of any noble nation. |
 
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This site chronicles my adventures in Brussels, Amsterdam, Turin, Budapest, Bratislava, and Berlin for the 2007 Marshall Memorial Fellowship.
I was in Europe from October 5 - 28, 2007. I will continue to post pictures and comments as I find the time. For information on the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, click here.
To see my general itinerary, go to my Marshall page, here, or follow the menu above. You can also skip to each city by using the main menu above.
This is a work in progress, so if you like what you find, you may want to check back later to see more.
Thanks for visiting.
- SBH
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"...hunt, drink, sing, dance, sail, and dig; and those that would not should be compelled by force."
-- HILAIRE BELLOC
Stephen@Hollingshead.com
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