A Naziworld theme park?
If we grant that they will theme the city, what do they do about its twentieth century history?
Ironically, the dimensions of Berlin's identity most compelling to outsiders are precisely the ones Kollhoff's [critical reconstruction] Berlin is most anxious to conceal. "In America, " says Hans Nerger, director of the Berlin Tourism office, "you would have a memorial Wall and a simulated escape." But Berlin is too haunted to commercialize its history. It will never host a simulated Wall or a Naziworld. Wolf 1998, 206
Well, what about a Naziworld park? People certainly come to Berlin looking for contact with the horrors of the past. They will find them indicated at the Jewish Museum, and at the proposed Holocaust memorial. But what about a simulation? Imagine paying your money and riding through a presentation of Speer's extravagant plans for Berlin, or visiting replicas of Nazi science and industry -- and their medical experiments and their slave workers. Imagine being ordered around by the park SS, or forbidden to eat at the restaurants because of the color of your hair. Imagine never finding the Holocaust but having it hinted at constantly. There is nothing in the notion of a theme park that demands that the park be a pleasant experience. If we want to drive home the lesson of "never again!", could theming help? Or would it romanticize the horrors? Or is it too late?