Berlin, Day 3

Today was a life-changing day for me. As I return home, I feel a very sombre mood, and just a heavy weight. Today we went to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp which is about a forty-five minute train ride outside of Berlin. In this post, I really want to share some of the things I learned and saw today, to help show some of the perspective I've gained in my visit.

Me at NEW gate of Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen was an internment camp, and was used by the NAZI's in the later 1930's, and then later became a work camp, and then a death camp. It was taken over by the Soviet Army in April 1945, and then it was turne into a Soviet Special Camp from 1945-1950. It's interesting to note that the very army that liberated the camp, then turned around and used it for their own purposes, kind of twisted isn't it?

Some things I learned today (from our tour guide who is writing a book on Sachsenhausen)
1) Hitler was responsible for about 20 million death, Stalin is responsible for over 50 million
2) Not only Jews were in these camps, but homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, political opponents, spies, gypsies, and mentally and physically handicapped among others....
3) Hitler never once visited a camp, he left that to his cronies...
4) Dying was a priveledge in these camps
5) So many people still deny that these things happen.... (which is illegal to vocalize in Germany)

Here are some pictures...
This is a picture of the camp's officer's quarters. It is still intact, but in very bad condition, nobody is allowed close to it at all. Here the officers would party and do whatever they pleased. They would round up the 'passive' prisoners, and make them the butlers and servants. The cruelest way to starve is to have to serve food as you do. They would make the prisoners the object of their entertainment here....
Here is the main gate to Sachsenhausen.... and here is a video at the gate....

It was a chilling entrance, to an even darker place....
Here is the back side to the main entrance. The red balcony was not enclosed when teh camp was in use. It was from this balcony that they would control the entire camp. The camp was built in the shape of a triangle, and from this vantage point they were able to control the entire camp. The clock on top is painted to read 11:07, the time when the Soviet Army liberated the camp.
This is the section between the roll call area (directly in front of the entrance), and the wall. It was called a nuetral zone, if you went into this zone, you would be shot. At first they would shoot you to kill you, but then people started to run to teh electric fence to kill themselves, and escape the peril of the death camp. The guards soon figured this out, and would shoot you only to immobilize you, and wouldn't grant you the opportunity to die.... you then would be punished for your rebellious actions, and tortured further.
These are the actual bunks that prisoners slept in. The prisoners would build these barracks, and then sleep in them. In Sachsenhausen's hayday, if that's what you even call it, they were very overcrowded, and there would usually be 3 people on each bunk, and many people on the floor as well. They were only permitted to use the bathroom once in teh morning, and once at night, so many people had accidents in their bad, multiple times a week... you can only imagine...
This is a bathroom that they would only have used 2 times a day...
These are posts that they would hang people from, but not from their necks. They would tie your hands behind your back, and then hang your hands on the pole. Your arms would eventually break, and they could tell how long you had been hanging, by the position of your body.
These were drawings by a famous cartoonist who was imprisoned, and forced to work in teh kitchen. His job was to peel potatoes, for 14 hours a day. He and one other lady did this every day, and he eventually bribed the guards to give him paint, and created this drawing, where the potatoes were washing themselves. It was very cool to see something so lighthearted in such a dark place, even in the darkest of all hours, they were able to find something to laugh and dream about.
These are the ovens in the crematorium. This was not a mass crematorium, such as Aushwitz, but it did cremated thousands of people. Between here and the medical labs, I'm not sure I've been to a place on this earth that is any darker.

The experience was one of a lifetime. It was amazing, moving, and overall very depressing. I felt so different when I was there. I felt heavy, as if I couldn't breathe normal, and felt like i had a huge burden surrounding my body. As I toured the camp the silent screams of those who are gone were louder than any sound I've ever heard in my life. The events here cannot be forgotten, and those who perished must be remembered. I am ever so grateful for what I have been blessed with, and grateful for those who have gone before me. May we never forget....

More light-hearted fun to come tomorrow. Love, James