It’s always a pleasure to return to Berlin to look after the grandchildren. Even if they don’t really need any “looking after” it’s great to spend (so called) quality time with them, as well as continuing our exploration of this great city. Today we took the S7 to Grunewald and walked through the forest and around the Grunewaldsee and Hundekehlefenn lakes. The forest is magnificent all year round. At this time of year it’s all shades of grey and brown with hints of purple. It’s icy cold and the paths are sandy and dry and lovely to walk on and there are lots of friendly walkers and their dogs enjoying the day. We stop at the Paulsborn Schloss hunting lodge for a bracing outdoor lunch in the barest hint of sunshine.

But as we walked out of Grunewald station we stopped and studied the various artifacts from 80 years ago. There is a panel describing how this area of the city was extremely prosperous. The lakeside properties were in great demand by industrialists, writers, scientists, among them a lot of very important people who were building their original villas in the surrounding parkland. There were a high proportion of Jewish inhabitants in this area. Beside the station there is a 1991 memorial, a long concrete wall with negative imprints of human bodies. The memorial commemorates the period from October 1941 to February 1945 during which time some 50,000 Jewish citizens of Berlin were deported to the extermination camps where they were murdered.

As we walk through the forest we discuss how shocked we are with the British Labour Party that has clearly got a major problem with anti-Semitism, and how disgusted we are that the leadership of that party has ignored the problem that has led to yesterday’s resignations. And at the same time in France there are reports of widespread anti-Semitism actions by far-right protesters.

Once again, we are left wondering how it is that we are destined to relive history. Of course, we constantly see examples of prominent people who clearly don’t understand their history. Recent examples are almost too many to mention, but let’s just name tag a few such as Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and current British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. And we wonder how it is that the British media seem intent on reliving the second world war and blaming the German people for all the problems visited on the UK.

Yet although we visit Germany a lot we have never ever experienced anything but goodwill. Even in the face of Brexit we see Angela Merkel’s position to be entirely reasonable even in response to extraordinary provocation. In fact, the general impression of the German people is that the Brits have temporarily lost their senses and are hoping they recover very soon. But in contrast to Brits  the German people are acutely aware of their still recent past and fully prepared to acknowledge and commemorate the awfulness that was perpetrated by their forebears.

It seems that today the western world including the UK, USA, France, and several Eastern European countries are being taken over by extremists. We should all be remembering how easy it was for small numbers of extremists to capture the public opinion in Germany in the 1930s with disastrous consequences. It’s time for us all to remember and act accordingly.