Martin Samuel on England and Auschwitz

[bluemoondays]

I've been to Majdanek, south of Warsaw, one of the lesser known camps but they still managed to kill over 100,000 people there. There's a covered area with just a huge pile of ash (about the size of a volleyball court and maybe 10-15 foot high) - all that remains of the people they burned and they are still finding graves/ash deposits now.

Horrific place to visit, the thing that stuck out in my mind was seeing thousands of shoes in metal transportation cages - and a little one for a girl, about the right size for a 2 year old, I noticed in one of them.

 

[tonyblue]

Everyone should go if they get the chance.I went about 5years ago

 

[Carstairs]

Of all the England squad I'd have thought John Terry would be the one who'd benefit most from visiting Auschwitz.

Why am I not surprised though that he won't be making the trip?

 

[quiet_riot]

Don't like how he tries to devalue people's intentions when they visit by saying how more and more 'tourists' are visiting.

 

[Skashion]

when you put it like that it sounds like a car scrap/salvage yard, absolutley harrowing!

I have never understood why they have never demolished these camps, I understand when peole say why try to erase it from history, but surley they could have built permanent memorials or something similar to the victims on the sites, or is that me being to simple minded?

I would assume that maybe they spoke with survivors / victims families before deciding to keep the camps intact, and it was their descions to leave them as they were?

I've never been been as I've never been to that part of Europe, but in my view they should NEVER EVER be demolished.

the one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again

George Santayana.

That quote is now inscribed at Auschwitz and I could not agree more with its sentiments or its relevance to Auschwitz.

It should stand as the ultimate testament to the dangers of racism, of dehumanisation by meaningless differences, of human cruelty, of blindly following orders of a government, in allowing your country to be gripped by totalitarianism and many other things. We can never forget these lessons.

 

[Ja Salford Blue]

when you put it like that it sounds like a car scrap/salvage yard, absolutley harrowing!

I have never understood why they have never demolished these camps, I understand when peole say why try to erase it from history, but surley they could have built permanent memorials or something similar to the victims on the sites, or is that me being to simple minded?

I would assume that maybe they spoke with survivors / victims families before deciding to keep the camps intact, and it was their descions to leave them as they were?

I've never been been as I've never been to that part of Europe, but in my view they should NEVER EVER be demolished.

I understand what you are saying mate, I didnt mean demolish them and never speak of them again, it just seams strange, when you have other atrocities (obviously nother has ever happened on this scale) the sites are usually raized to the ground. and memorials are put up in place.

I suppose what I was trying to get at was, do you think the survivors and victims families had a say in them being kept as they are?

 

[dazdon]

I have visited Bergen Belsen and it's somewhere where I wouldn't go again.

It's very hard to get your head round how cruel man can be against man.

 

[Skashion]

I understand what you are saying mate, I didnt mean demolish them and never speak of them again, it just seams strange, when you have other atrocities (obviously nother has ever happened on this scale) the sites are usually raized to the ground. and memorials are put up in place.

I suppose what I was trying to get at was, do you think the survivors and victims families had a say in them being kept as they are?

Here's a debate on the subject: <a class="postlink" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7827534.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7827534.stm</a>

I doubt the Soviets consulted anyone at the time as they were not believers in consulting the people, but there certainly doesn't seem to be a clamour from survivors and victims' families to shut it down now so far as I know.

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

My missus Grandma was put in Ravensbruck during the war. She is 90 and cannot tell you what she said 5 minutes ago but she can reduce you 2 tears with what happened back then

 

[Vienna_70]

I visited Sachsenhausen, which is near Berlin, in 1993, where over 50,000 victims perished and that was harrowing enough.

It became a training ground for the execution of the Holocaust and the centre of the whole concentration camp system

I also visited Wannsee Villa, where the Final Solution was planned at what has become known as the Wannsee Conference.

There are many images from the various concentration camps, but nothing prepares you for the real thing (I visited Wannsee Villa before I went to Sachsenhausen).

IMHO, these places should be left as they were found by the Allied troops and should never be demolished.