The Holocaust.
This is perhaps Germany's darkest point in history.
A country in despair from an economic crisis as well as a soviet rule is looking for hope. They grab at straws for anything they can find. Hitler makes his rise to leadership. There is hope, there is a promise of prosperity, for the German people.
However, their leader and his staff sought more than prosperity for all peoples, they sought in creating a pure race. This race would be free of Jews, homosexuals, Christians, and anyone else who spoke out in opposition to or simply didn't meet specifications of the government. But what to do with these people?
Just to kill them would be unethical. And why would you kill someone who though they oppose you can help you.
How about they be sent to labor camps. These camps we will teach these people through hard work, excersise, and other methods that the third reich is good, is divine, is what is ideal for not only Germany but the world.
I decided to visit a concentration camp today. Why? I feel that it serves as both a memorial as well as a learning experience. This is not something that is meant to be joyful, nor is it meant to be something even to be called good. Because it's not. There are no two ways around it. What happened here was horrible. There is no excuse or logical reason behind it.
The camp I visited was Swachausen (sp). It was built in 1933 amongst the Olympic games. It is just north of the town of Orenburg, approximately 45 minutes by rail north of Berlin.
The camp was a smaller camp during the war and was used primarily as either a hold for transfer camp or a labor camp. Its uses varied as people were shipped there.
Today, the camp is a memorial to those lives lost there. Much of the camp was destroyed while it lay empty after its use up until 1955. Yes, 1955. 10 years after the wart was continued to house prisoners by the soviets. When the camp was liberated after the war, not all prisoners were let free.
After the camp closed in the 50's it "reopened" as a memorial for those who had survived giving them the opportunity to revisit. A bias museum later opened not acknowledging any harm done, yet deaths from natural causes and it was used to help the war effort. The barracks were left to fall apart as interest diminished during the height of the cold war.
After the reunification of Germany, an interest in the camp was regenerated and parts were restored and a more proper museum opened. When the museum opened in the 90's there was a lot of extremist movements including the burning of one of the reconstructed barracks.
Today, the camp continues efforts to teach guests what happened there. A more accurate reality, if not even more than what we see in the states. This can be contributed to the fact that it is one camp's story that is being told.
I would write more of the history, numbers, facts, design, etc. But I feel that would be purposeless. It is one of those things that must bee seen first hand. During my visit, it was cold and rainy. I had to walk close to 2.5 miles to get to the camp parts in the mud. However, the entire time, both during my visit and traveling, I couldn't help to think how the prisoners must had felt. They would be naked, forced to stand outside for hours on end, prohibited to move. My misery was noting in comparison.
In the museum, there were moments where my heart dropped. One of them was displays of children's items. Another one was a measuring stick used for periodical physicals. Where it appeared the height marker slid up and down was slit that was open to the room next door. They would be shot in the neck or head unsuspectingly. The final moment was on my way out. There was a building I skipped on my way in. I walked in and there was a uniform of an SS officer. The presentation of the uniform made me catch my breath.
To describe how I felt would be impossible. I didn't physically cry, but the inside of me was weeping. My soul cried out for the victims, it morned with them.
Sometimes words can't do justice.
-Until
Matt
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