Our visit to Sachsenhausen was an eye-opening experience. Going through the camp, we got to listen to recounts of the horrific events that happened there. It’s hard to picture that something so awful could happen so recent in history. It feels like the holocaust was so long ago, but the reality is that some of our grandparents lived through WWII. In hearing the things that happened at Sachsenhausen, it was hard to picture that any of it was real, as it seemed that horrible. We walked through ruins of what once was, but with each step you could feel the weight of what had happened there.
In addition, one thing the little group I was walking with and I learned was that the average age of soldiers in concentration camps was 20.2. Putting that into perspective, people our age were running pieces of concentration camps and dehumanizing Jews. I couldn’t imagine getting recruited for something like that at my age, and I can only guess how terrified some of them felt. Alongside this, we learned a lot about how kids in general were treated. It’s so sad to think that some of them were exploited for their innocence by adults in the same situation.
The visit to the holocaust museum hit hard as well. It didn’t have the same heavy feeling as the concentration camp, where things had actually happened, but it had the personal testimony of survivors and victims. We listened to stories of mothers who had sent their kids away unknowingly to their death, letters of despair, and families ripped apart. It was hard to read, but at the same time, it was hard to acknowledge that it was real. Germany does a great job of recognizing that this was a real part of their history, and they make a huge effort to honor the victims.