(Watch in 1080p HD for best quality.)
I spent a couple days hanging out with Darren, a Nazi research and Berlin tour guide, for the final project in our photo class. In the above video, he describes why he came to the city and why others are drawn to its dark roots.
Below are some photos I took from his tours.
And here’s a tidbit I wrote about him:
Originally from Ireland, Darren O’Byrne made his way to Berlin two years ago to study the Third Reich—specifically, the roles civil leaders played in the Nazi government.
“I came over here with the hope of salvaging something from this great train wreck and maybe pointing to some decency on some level,” the 32-year-old says of the city’s 20th century turmoil. “But … my research has shown me the opposite if anything.”
His academic pursuits are as a researcher at Humboldt University and a Ph.D. history student at the University of Cambridge. He also wears the hat of tour guide three days a week for Original Berlin Walks, taking visitors to museums, churches, Nazi and Soviet sites, and Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
“People want to be shocked,” he says of visitors’ motives in going to the concentration camp. Berlin isn’t a place “to be admired,” he adds, but rather “to be understood,” mainly the four “massive ruptures” that flipped the city upside down during the last century or so.
In leisure, he enjoys spending time with his girlfriend and watching soccer either at home or a local Irish pub.
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