Tag: blogQ2

Walking on the exact same ground that the prisoners of the concentration camp walked on, standing on the exact same spot that the prisoners were shot at, and looking at the rooms and beds that the prisoners slept in was a mind boggling experience.  Continue reading “Sachsenhausen Memorial Reflection”

Probably what I most remember from the trip to the memorial was standing over the trench just staring at the roughly cobbled ground. The sun’s rays were frying my back, but I honestly didn’t notice as I listened to the audio guide’s description of the area. There was an incline to my right into the wood log-lined pit. “They used to unload trucks of people into the ramp, forcing them to run down into the trench where soldiers would shoot them from above,” the audio explained. Continue reading “Sachsenhausen Memorial”

Walking through the front gate was a very awakening experience. Seeing the writing on the barred gate: “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work sets you free). I heard this saying from history classes and I had seen it in many historical movies, however seeing it in person was very different experience. It brought a real realization Continue reading “Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp”

This past weekend we visited the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. The main concentration camp headquarters in World War II. We began the tour by walking down a long path with a wall on our left that told the timeline and details of Sachsenhausen’s use during the war, as well as its liberation. I’ve read the words before in other exhibits in Berlin, as well as in history classes in the past, but words are just that, words. Nothing could really prepare me for seeing the the compound myself, behind the large gate with the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work sets you free) written on the doorway. From the moment I walked through that gate there was a constant haunting feeling that chilled me despite the eighty degree heat.

My first impression upon seeing the camp was that it was massive, Sachsenhausen was far larger than I had ever anticipated, and just like that my image of the concentration camps during the war shifted. Although I had read details about the events multiple times, the numbers and statistics meant nothing to me until I saw it. Even though most of the buildings had been burnt down and destroyed, it was clear that an immense number of human beings were forced to work, and be tortured there. I stayed there for 4 hours, seeing all the buildings still standing, and all the museums the compound had to offer. I read hundreds of plaques and memorials, though there were thousands more available. There was so much to take in. At the end however I found that I had not taken any photos. I realized that really there was nothing I wanted to take with me when I left. So much evil happened there and it left me feeling ill. There was nothing that made me want to think about that place again. But despite my discomfort and weak stomach, I know that this is something that I will never be able to forget, and I believe it is rightfully so.

The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp visit is an experience that I will never forget. The day started with our entrance to the vast camp. The camp spanned for acres and acres, and only the outline of the barracks were there to show the huge magnitude of people who once “lived” there. Continue reading “Reflections (A Sobering Visit)”

“Unfortunately”, a word I use far too much, is a word that comes to mind when contemplating my time at the Holocaust Museum and Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. ‘Unfortunately’ hardly covers the horrific acts that the Nazis committed.

Continue reading “Unfortunately Sin”

The visit to Sachsenhausen was an experience that I will never forget. It is one thing to hear of tragedy and to be saddened or distraught because of it, but visiting the concentration camp and seeing firsthand evidence of the Holocaust affected me in a much greater way. Continue reading “Reflecting on Sachsenhausen”

This past Friday we visited Sachsenhausen, one of the many concentration camps which have been preserved and repurposed as a museum.

Continue reading “Coping With the Past”

As someone who grew up in Thailand, I have never had to think much about genocide and extreme racism that may lead to ethnic cleansing. I learned about what happened in Europe during the second World War from history classes but

Continue reading “Reflections”