US first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha yesterday visited key sites of Germany's troubled Nazi and cold war history, walking through the haunting Holocaust Memorial and laying flowers for those killed at the Berlin Wall.
As President Barack Obama attended to matters of state in a 24-hour visit to the German capital, his family went on a whirlwind tour in an armoured limousine on their first visit to the city.
They were joined by the president's half-sister Auma, who studied in Germany and lives in Kenya, and Joachim Sauer, the husband of Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel. Their first stop was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Opened in 2005 near the Brandenburg Gate, the field of 2,700 concrete slabs evokes a cemetery and serves as a memorial for the millions of Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
The Obamas walked along pathways that descend into the heart of a claustrophobic maze, then visited a subterranean information centre on the millions murdered by the Nazis.
They next went to Checkpoint Charlie - the best-known border crossing between Berlin's former US and Soviet sectors - and visited a display by artist Yadegar Asisi, which gives a glimpse at what life along the Berlin Wall was like.
Vienna-born artist Asisi said: "It was a very relaxed atmosphere and we talked for almost an hour. Mr Sauer told stories and Mrs Obama asked many questions."