So what's on your list of things you have to visit if you go to Germany? If you've got Grandparents who were Holocaust survivors or are jewish or have ever met a jewish person on that list might be "go to a concentration camp".
Since I have all three of these things going for me it was more or less a must. You don't really enjoy doing it but I guess you have to. Is there an analogue to this for other countries? Maybe like having to go to ground zero if you're in New York city.
I've waited on this one for so long because I'm having kind of a hard time figuring out how to present it. This is one of the last things I did before I left Berlin, yeah, it was that long ago. So anyway, I don't think I can talk about in an entertaining way, it was pretty intense. So I'll just present the pictures and talk about them. This may make for some boring blogs but w/e, this will be about learning too. So this is the outer wall, the prisoners walked along this street on their way in.
These are the former SS guard houses where they did training. This concentration camp is called Sachsenhausen, by the way. It was the closest Concentration Camp to Berlin and was mainly used for political prisoners although eventually a lot of jews were shipped there.
It was intended to be the model upon which all other concentration camps were based and one that could be readily inspected and monitored. This was the alpha concentration camp, so to speak. This is where they came up with the whole idea.
It's interesting to see how the various people who've been in charge of this sight since the war ended have dealt with it. It was in East Germany after the Soviet's took over and they demolished most of the smaller buildings and put up an enormous monument. They also turned a part of it into their own prison camp. Now it's back in the hands of Germany proper and they've added a lot. I don't know if there's anyone, besides maybe israelies, who take the holocaust more seriously than Germans.
They have really well developed museums and various and usually impressive monuments all over the country. Seeing how Germany is dealing with it's terrible legacy makes me wonder what the hell we're doing with all those native americans, japanese, and blacks over in America (in a word, nothing). My grandmother still gets checks from Germany every month.
The other famous gate that has this written on it is in Auschwitz, I think. It says "Work will make you free".
This is where the prisoners gathered every morning for a sort of roll call.
These are the few remaining prisoner's barracks that remain. This is where, I believe, those that were sick got put. Although no one stayed sick for too long in the conditions there.
This is the medical building where autopsies were done on the dead and cause of death was determined. This wasn't an extermination camp so every death had to be recorded and categorized. Obvious creulty or murder weren't acceptable causes so there were a lot mysterious deaths.
The stairs lead down into the basement, a morgue, where bodied were stacked to the ceiling.
When I was there I knew something about how many people died there on the average day. I've since forgotten, but it was some horrifying number.
This was the room where the autopsies were performed. Selected prisoners often had to do this as the SS guards and doctors didn't want to touch the diseased bodies, their accounts of what went on here is pretty terrible.
I'm gonna do this in more than one installment, because it's just too much. Don't get too down guys, we'll be having fun again soon. What can I say, there are just some things you have to talk about.
This delightful architecture is Berlin's Holocaust memorial. It's positively enormous. I went there months ago but I guess I'm getting around to it now.
There's a museum attached but there was a 'no-pictures' policy. At the museum they had a searchable database of those who died, I actually found some of my relatives. The Germans have always been good at classifying and organizing, as we can see above.
This is, I think, the largest memorial in the world. Don't quote me on that, but it is REALLY big. It feels completely cold walking between these stone columns even when it's warm out. Compared to other memorials, it is really good at creating a feeling. There is no thinking, no interpretation involved, just sensation. Really interesting.
The columns themselves are interesting too, the ground they're on is never even and they're all different sizes with slightly varying amounts of space between them. They are kind of reminiscent of coffins or tombstones. Kind of like a cross between those two things.
This is also the day I went to Checkpoint Charlie, one of the border crossing points between east and west Berlin. I don't know why I didn't mention this earlier, but here's the last Soviet flag, lookin pretty stylish.
