Dont want to offend anyone but I have no idea why anyone would want to visit these places. Just watching documentaries is bad enough. Not for me.
100% agree. Went to Berlin recent and the Holocaust museum there was enough.
Dont want to offend anyone but I have no idea why anyone would want to visit these places. Just watching documentaries is bad enough. Not for me.
I visited Strachenhausen outside Berlin about 4 years ago and Auschwitz and Birkenau 2 years ago and found them both extremely harrowing in different ways.
Strachenhausen is about an hour and a half outside Berlin and sits at the back of a small village. Me and the Mrs went and were the only people in the grounds in a freezing February day. The strangest thing is walking through the gates and all sound seems to disappear altogether. No birds, no background noise - absolutely nothing. It's honestly like nature itself stays away as a mark of respect. That was one of the earlier camps set up and was heavily involved in a lot of the experiments on Jews, disabled children, twins...the morbid list went on. Reading some of that stuff is truly incomprehensible. The evil that was done in that 'hospital' and some of the stories stayed with me for a long time. As some have already said, no matter how hard you try you still can't believe it actually happened - it still felt surreal. I remember just sitting in what was left of the gas chamber area for over an hour with the Mrs in complete silence.
Auschwitz and Birkenau were very busy when I went, so it wasn't the same experience. What you see and hear there again, is just unspeakable. I will always remember walking through the building with all of the hair and belongings then seeing a tiny pair of yellow children's shoes. Honestly hit me harder than anything I had ever experienced and you feel such an intense rage at what the Nazi's done. Being inside the gas chamber and the stories of handing out soap as they walked in and fake shower heads was absolutely soul destroying. To stand in a place where hundreds of thousands of souls have perished is something that stays with you.
I think either of these places are an experience every single person on the planet should go and see. Not only does it provide a harrowing education into events of the past, but it highlights how strong a tool propaganda can be and what can happen when people don't stand up against prejudice. I'm sure there are others who have been who notice worrying events from the past that lead to this are still common place today. Without being overly political, things like the disdain of Syrian refugees, growing xenophobia in the face of Brexit and 'the elite' seemingly unbothered by austerity are all extremely worrying. The one thing that really get's me however, after such horrible past-time, is the rise of far-right Nazi's in places in Poland. A wonderful country that was decimated by the Nazi's, yet there they are promoting a regime that most likely killed their ancestors. Absolute mutants. I won't mention the lack of action regarding UEFA on that either...