Postcard from Berlin
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q7oqRawiE0g This weekend I went to Berlin to attend a protest entitled “Berlin invites Europe – Festival for freedom and peace” organised by Querdenken, an organisation based in Stuttgart, who organised several protests with the aim of “reinstating fundamental rights and repealing the COVID-19 restrictions”. Before attending the protest, I visited the Berlin Story Museum to see an exhibition called “How could it happen?” about Hitler’s rise to power, and the horrors of the Nazi regime. We were instructed to wear masks at the entrance – and we meekly complied. However, the bunker was very hot and I found it difficult to breathe, so while no one was watching and no other tourists were nearby, I let the mask slip under my nose. About three minutes later, an enormous, grey-haired security guard charged into the room, put himself between me and the information I was reading (much closer than 1.5 metres), and glared down at me. He informed me that he had seen that my mask was not covering my nose through the security cameras he had been monitoring, and that this was against the museum’s policy. I was so intimidated by this giant masked man appearing three inches from my face, that I was left speechless, took a few steps back, apologised and obeyed. That all this happened in ...