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Easter Break: Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp |
| Friday, March 26, 2004,
Berlin,
Germany |
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We arrived in Berlin around 12:30 on Friday March 26. We quickly checked into our hostel and rushed to catch a train out of Berlin to Oranienburg. After taking the train and then a bus, we finally reached Sachsenhausen at 3:30pm. Unfortunately the Memorial and Museum closes at 4:30 so we were a little rushed going through. Although I probably could have spent an entire day exploring the site, you only needed a few minutes there for the harsh realities to sink in.
Sachsenhausen was built in 1936 by its own prisoners. It was the ‘ideal’ concentration camp setting in they eyes of the SS. More than 200,000 people were imprisoned from 1936-1945, mostly composed of political prisoners of the Nazi’s (however an increasing number of Jews were kept at the camp as the years moved on). Even after 1945 the camp’s crematoria and extermination facilities were still used for the same purposes. The camp was finally closed in 1950.
The bitter cold air intensified the stomach pains that I had upon stepping foot onto the camp grounds. It’s hard to believe that people were forced to live and perform slave labor in such harsh conditions. Standing on the camp grounds however, there was no denying what happened just a few decades ago.
Most of the site has been rebuilt since a fire in the early 90’s set by right-wing extremists. We had the opportunity to go into several barracks in which Jewish prisoners were held. The living and bathing conditions had been rebuilt and one of the barracks also contained stories of individual victims of the camp and artifacts (such as worn out shoes).
We also had the opportunity to go into the basement where bodies were kept before going to the crematoria; and the reconstructed prison (with original cell doors) that held the first prisoners of the camp. Parts of the camp, such as the roll call area had been modified and turned into a memorial to the prisoners of the camp.
You can read about the Hitler years and even see hundreds of pictures but some things just don’t hit you until you come face to face with the harsh realities. Not one of the pleasant excursions on our trip, but one worth taking.
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Visitors:
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186,184
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Stories:
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49
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Pictures:
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115
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