Berlin, Germany: Day 3 - The Concentration Camps
Hey guys
When I read we were going to visit the museum about the concentration camps I had no idea the museum was an actual real life concentration camp that they turned into a museum!
I’m not going to lie visiting the concentration camps as one can expect isn’t fun but it is very educational. I wouldn’t say it was so much emotional as it is shocking. It was absolutely horrible to hear some of the stories of what went on in the camp, however hearing these stories really makes you think about the tortures that people went through but actually seeing the place makes you get a deeper understanding.
Most of the concentration camps have been kept the same to preserve the history in order to help people learn more about the Nazis.
One of the buildings next to the concentration camp was a Nazi building that is now used by the modern day German police, and I know what some of you maybe thinking but the tour guide explain to us the reason behind it. As a police officer you are obliged to look after your people and stay away from any selfishness and greed that may cause corruption in the work force and put your people in risk. Working in a Nazi building you are constantly reminded of the horror many people incurred due to corruption therefore it helps the police force stay focused on their duties. To me this was mind blowing as I never really saw it that way but it really made sense after he explained.
The gates of the concentration camps read “Arbeit macht frei” which translates to work sets you free. This is because the Nazis believed hard work could cure anyone or anything. For example they would give homosexuals very hard work such as running around the concentration camps as they believed the hard work would turn them straight, however we know that isn’t true. This quote was written in a couple of places in the concentration camp.
Inside the camp a neutral zone protected all the gates. This zone was forbidden at the time and if people would even step into the neutral zone they would be shot. The tour guide explained how the Nazis believed they needed to mentally break down all the prisoners in order for them to have full control over them, to do this they implemented fear. An example he gave us was one of the Nazi soldiers threw a random inmates hat into the neutral zone and demanded he go in to get it, as the inmates weren’t allowed to disobey the soldiers he knew he had no choice but to go in and get it and when he did he was shot. The dead body was left in the neutral zone for a few days and other inmates were forced to run past it every morning. This psychologically damaged the inmates and made them believe they were helpless compared to the soldiers and they had no choice but to obey.
The Nazis believed they must completely remove the identities of each individual to control them mentally to do this all inmates wore the same uniforms, were bold and weren’t given a name but just a number. The only thing to separate the inmates was the colour triangle they wore on their uniform, these were colour coated depending on the reason for the person being in the camp. For example homosexuals, Jews and spies wore different colour labels.
The sells of some inmates were all unique to one another some of them had beds and others didn’t, some had windows and others were just a dark hollow room. The sell you can see in the picture was that of a man who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The man wanted planted a bomb in the place where Hitler was going to do a speech and set the bomb to go off a hour into the speech, however he failed as and was caught and tortured in this sell.
The final stop on the tour of the concentration camp was the actual death chambers where thousands of humans were killed in horrific ways. This was truly the most emotional and terrifying thing ever. Standing in the chambers and looking at the photographs of those who were killed really is a lot to take in. We were told that often the Nazi soldiers would feel sympathetic when looking into the eyes of the person they were about to kill therefore they decided to use gas chambers instead. People would walk down the chamber where they were told they would be able to take a shower and then the gas was turned on killing many at a time and the bodies were they inspected for any jewellery, gold teeth and other remains before they were burned to ash. It was horrible hearing all this and even more horrible actually seeing the place in real life. All the time all I could think of was how many innocent people were brutally killed over these grounds. However hearing all this really made me realise how much evil there was in the world and how much evil there still is to this day. The concentration camps aren’t really a place people go to visit when on holiday but I still thought it was very educational and it really makes you realise how easy it is to ignore the evil In the world but when you do it may result in terrible things such as this.
Thank you for reading I hope you learned something and I hope to see you soon.
