A day trip with death

Holly writes:

Day 51

Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg, Germany, 14/07/16

Before we entered the concentration camp there were maps showing the layout of the camp, personally looked at by Hitler. It was in the shape of a triangle, Tower A (the entrance) was at the middle bottom of a triangle. The barracks where the prisoners lived were fanned out around this so you could see over all of the area. It was so the prisoners felt like they were always being watched. We walked down the street the Jews marched, the Germans patrolled and the allies discovered. Before entering through Tower A we read boards, these explained how the surviving prisoners were saved at the end of the war. It was just for a feeling of consolation for the visitors as they walked through the terror that was this camp.

The slogan on the gate that leads into the camp is 'Work sets you free' which is a lie in so many ways. Straight through the gates was the roll call area. Several times a day the prisoners had to gather here, often for hours in the rain or snow. Many dropped dead on the spot from starvation and cold. Next we went to the barracks where some prisoners used to live. They could only go to the toilet twice a day (mornings and evenings) and occasionally at midday if they were lucky. If you feel over in the mad rush for the toilets there was a possibility you would be trampled to death. The SS guards were known to drown people in the the toilets.

There was also a supplies closet in which they would torment prisoners by locking them in there under instructions to not move a muscle or they would put so many people in there at once that most of the time they suffocated to death. In the barracks it explained that they could only walk around the camp at certain times, on certain paths, at certain speeds

In the second barrack there was a half hour movie just explaining more and linking events in the camp to other events in the war. Some survivors of the camp went to the 'prison inside the prison'. Here individuals were kept in separate sells and tormented harshly. Only one wing of the building is left.

Next we went to station Z. The idea was once you came through Tower A the only way out was station Z. Station Z consists of a gas chamber a shooting room and a execution trench. It was a sick joke for the Nazis. Before you entered station Z a doctor would examine you. They would look at your eyes ear and nose. But all they really cared about was your mouth. The doctors would check for gold teeth fillings which they would collect after you had died. They would put a mark on you and send you in... 

When the Nazis realised they were losing the war they dug up thousands of bodies from the excecution trenches and cremated them in an attempt to get rid of the evidence of all the people they had killed. The people left were ordered to all be executed but there was technical difficulties and this command as never carried out. One day the guards could hear bombs and shots going off in Berlin so they hurried the prisoners together. The prisoners were only allowed a thin blanket a spoon and a bowl. They were then sent on what is known as a death march.

They marched for days on end. Those who couldn't keep up were shot. Those who couldn't walk no more collapsed. Those people who could only dream of freedom marched on. Eventually after five days the prisoners were found by the allies and taken care of properly. Later they learned that if they had not been found they would have been put on boats and bombed so the boats sunk and all evidence of the prisoners were gone. 

To cheer ourselves up afterwards for dinner we had curry wurst which is a popular streetfood in Berlin (curry powder covered sausages) YUM!!!

Auf Weidershen
Holly