2022.08 Brandenburg an der Havel

The drought and the heat continue. But these are also the last few weeks to take advantage of Germany’s €9 public transport ticket. So Edyta and I board the train to Brandenburg on the river Havel and go out exploring before it gets too hot.

It may be the time of the day or an unusually quiet weekend, but what we find when we arrive is a ghost town peppered by post-soviet shopping malls and crumbling ruins.

“This looks like Konin, old town,” I say.

Among the most interesting finds is a monument to WWII-era Russian soldiers.

What do you do? Tear it down? Pretending the past didn’t happen or that removing a plaque makes it right seems to be in vogue these days. Or do you keep it, as a reminder that history is nuanced and not at all black and white?