Munich Frauenkirche

Outside the train station in Nördlingen the other day, I noticed the words "both world wars" on a stone memorial, so I went to take a look. The inscription said the memorial is dedicated "to the victims of both world wars." No "valiant heroes" or "Our Troops" bullshit. Just "to the victims." I thought that was interesting. And kind of heartening.

Now I'm in Munich, the city that Hitler named "The Capital City of Our Movement." Today I visited the Munich City Museum (which is very well done), and then I went to a 7:00pm service at the cathedral, the famous Frauenkirche. I went mainly because I read that "The Cathedral Chorus" and "The Cathedral Brass" were going to perform, and I like that kind of music.

It's a nice big, tall, narrow cathedral; but it doesn't look old, duh!, since it was rebuilt after we bombed the shit out of it when I was a baby.

I smelled the familiar incense out on the street even before I got in. I got a seat, and then, right near me, in solemn procession came acolytes with candles, priests, bishops, and then the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Marx, in his cardinal hat and rich ecclesiastical robes of state, carrying his crosier, and handing out blessings right and left. (I got me one.)

The music was really great, but the sermon was even better (who knew?). It turns out that this service was in remembrance of the liberation of Dachau, 70 years ago. Marx was very up-front about what the parents and grandparents of the people sitting in that church had been involved with. He mentioned the horror that overtook the American soldiers when they liberated Dachau "just a few kilometers from where we are right now."

Marx's sermon, in a nutshell, was: How can we atone for all that Nazi stuff? His answer was: We can't. All we can do is pray.

I looked up Marx, and I kinda like him. He an anti-corporate lefty. He says he's not allowed to marry a same-sex couple, but he'll bless their union if they ask him to.

It occurred to me that it would be nice if senior clerics in our own country started to speak out in defense and remembrance of the victims of the lawless invasions and concocted wars perpetrated by our own leaders (Vietnam, Iraq, etc.). That is, ALL of the victims -- not just the tiny minority of them that were "Our Troops." Just sayin'.

All this was just after I had spent the day in the city museum where there is a 1932 election campaign flyer that reads "Can a Catholic vote for National Socialism?" It went on to say that Adolf Hitler is "a devout, spiritual Catholic," so of COURSE you can vote for him. Hmm.

I suppose it would be silly of me, based on a few impressions, to draw any conclusions about what the Germans think about their past, and the different ways they deal with it, considering that it's all a total mishmash. But it's all very interesting.