Berlin Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. . .

How do you explain to someone that what you saw was really good? Not really good in a feely-good sort of way, but really good in an I-needed-to-know-that-part-of-history sort of way.

 

When I see the railroad tracks, I'm reminded of Auschwitz and the tracks that delivered victims to their deaths. After all the Holocaust movies and books I've seen and read, I can just hear the rumbling of the train cars over the tracks and the screech of the brakes as the engine comes to a halt. It's an eerie sound in my mind, but I'm very aware that I don't even have a clue just how awful it really was. We took the train from Berlin twenty miles north to the small town of Oranienburg, where Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was located. Because it was such a short distance from the capital, it was one of the most famous camps for training guards and for testing new ideas and procedures. If you've seen the 2007 movie The Counterfeiters (highly recommended), this is where it happened. Over 50,000 innocent lives were taken during the operation of this camp. After the Soviets took over in 1945, they converted the camp into a prison for their own prisoners. By the time it closed in 1950, another 12,000 people had died there. It's been so many years since the place was in operation, but it was almost like I could feel the death around me. It was a cold and dreary day, which added to the chill that was already in me.

From the train station, we walked about twenty minutes through the town to get to the camp grounds. It was a quiet walk and I tried to imagine what the prisoners felt like as they were sent into a living hell. Just before entering the grounds, our tour guide showed us some of the original housing just outside the gates. The army officers and their families lived in these homes, mere yards from where others were being tortured and imprisoned.

One of the old guard towers:

Entrance into the grounds. . .

Below is the "Green Monster", the building where the SS officers could have a little R&R when they needed it. They could relax, eat, laugh, play games, whatever they wanted, all while being served by prisoners. Other prisoners had to march by this building as they went to and from their work sights. Hot meals were prepared here so the prisoners had to smell the food as they passed and fight the hunger that was so constant in their own bellies. 

This is the Guard Tower A, where prisoners entered.

The clock is frozen at 11:07, which is the exact time the Soviets' Red Army liberated the camp in 1945.

"Work Sets You Free" is the translation on the iron gate below. Sadly, most who entered here were never free again. Even if they were released, the horrors of their stay could keep them prisoners in their own minds.

Most of the buildings have been torn down or destroyed. The barracks were used for building materials by the Germans after the war, so only a few were rebuilt.

This is the camp side of Guard Tower A, where the prisoners would have had roll call. Roll call could be brutal. Every prisoner had to be accounted for, including those who had died during the night. One story is shared in Rick Steves' book, "One day, after a prisoner escaped, SS officer Rudolf Hoss (who later went on to run Auschwitz-Birkenau) forced the entire population of the camp to stand here for 15 hours in a foot of snow and subzero temperatures. A thousand people died."

This is the neutral zone, the gravel track in front of the barbed wire fence and wall. If anyone stepped foot on the gravel, they would immediately be shot. Some prisoners would attempt suicide by purposely running onto the track. Once the guards figured this out, they would shoot the prisoner, but not kill him. Likely, he would be tortured and have to endure pain beyond comprehension.

Around where each barrack stood is a concrete frame filled with rocks. Every barrack is marked with the original number.

These are two of the barracks that have been reconstructed from the original timbers.

Inside you can see the bunks where the prisoners slept. Every morning there was a 4:15am wake up call. Everyone had to be ready for roll call at 5am.

This is where they had to eat what little food they were given.

No privacy for the prisoners. Written explanations said some would be murdered in the bathrooms and/or fountains that were used for washing.

These are the three remaining posts from an original 15. This was one of the torture areas for the officers. Prisoners were executed by having their hands tied behind their backs and then they were hung on the pegs by their wrists until they died. As I found out later, sadly, this wasn't a torture method created by the Nazis. It was a medieval tactic called strappado. (Later we visited a torture museum in Rothenburg where this was a common punishment.)

Another guard tower....

In case you need a visual. . .

In one building, there were displays of camp life, torture methods, and stories of prisoners and their tormentors. Below is a stand that was used for beating a prisoner. He was laid across the board and strapped down, his feet anchored in the wooden box below. Some people were beaten to death, others until they couldn't walk.

After realizing the officers were having problems with shooting their victims while actually seeing them, the Nazis came up with ways to murder that wouldn't be so detrimental to the murderer. Sickening. So below, in an attempt to keep the prisoner calm, they were told that they would have a medical/dental exam before entering the camp, to check to see if they had any gold in their teeth. They took off their clothes, had their pulse checked as well as a few other stats "taken down" and then were told to stand against the measuring stick to have their height checked. As they stood against the wall, an officer in the room directly behind them would remove a small piece of wood and pull his trigger, shooting the victim in the skull with a single bullet. Other prisoners would then clean up as quickly as possible and the next victim would be sent in, unaware of what had just happened. Loud music was blaring and the walls were so thick that the sound was muted from future victims.

This is a memorial dedicated to the political prisoners of Sachsenhausen. The red triangles were the color that designated "political prisoner" on the uniforms.

Typical uniform worn by Sachsenhausen prisoners. Each prisoner had a number and a colored triangle that signified the reason for his imprisonment, such as political, racial, sexual orientation, etc.

This was the execution trench that was used for mass shootings. One of the reasons the Nazis quit using it was because the officers were being traumatized. They later found a more efficient and less traumatic (for the murderers) way to kill their prisoners, which was the shooting through the deceitful measuring stick. Bodies were then taken to the crematorium to be incinerated in the ovens. The Nazis tried to destroy the crematorium when the Red Army was about to take over. Some of it has been preserved. Recently, a partial building was erected over the former crematorium so it wouldn't be damaged anymore by the elements.

A plaque reading, "Station Z", which was the crematorium.

It's amazing to me that so much death could happen in such a relatively small building. It appears that the Nazis were very efficient when it came to their murderous activities. They didn't need a lot of space. The room where the victims were shot through the small hole in the wall is below. From that room, the bodies would be dragged to the crematorium and burned. There was also a gas chamber in the Station Z. Although the gas chamber was built in 1943, most of the prisoners who were gassed were sent to Auschwitz Concentration camp in what is today Poland. While it wasn't the main form of murder at Sachsenhausen, it was likely used at some point. The gas chamber was disguised as a shower room. The prisoners would remove their clothing and then enter a small room to "take a shower" before heading back to their barracks. Instead of water, the Zyklon B gas filled the room and the prisoners were dead within minutes. The bodies were then taken to the ovens. 

The ovens are in the back, where the iron posts remain standing.

All I could do was stare at the ovens. I didn't want to imagine what had happened there and yet I stood there, staring and forcing myself to just try to comprehend the atmosphere of the early 1940s. I know I can't even begin to experience it. Being there was nauseating yet very, very powerful. The four half-destroyed ovens were frightening.

I'm not sure if the ovens were covered in dust or something else, but my first thought was that it was ash. I was sick. I realize that it's highly unlikely that it was actually human ash, but the reality is that at one point in time, human bodies were burned in those ovens. It's unfathomable, and yet, very, very real.

The ramp leading down, which is at the back of the building, was where ash was loaded to be taken away from the building. Supplies were also brought into the building this way. Around the grounds behind the crematorium are graves where ash was stored. Many of the graves were discovered and marked to remember those who were murdered.

This is a statue of two prisoners with another victim. All are emaciated, which is a very accurate description of the prisoners of Sachsenhausen. Most were malnourished, beaten, full of sickness, and, in most ways, just devoid of life.

Below is a 1940s picture of the death trench with the functioning crematorium and smokestack behind it. 

As we were about to leave the camp, our tour guide showed us the former infirmary. Many sick medical experiments were performed on patients here, all justified by the Nazis in their own depraved minds. I kind of get how all this happened. It wasn't one person. It didn't happen overnight. It wasn't OK with everyone and yet, not everyone was oblivious. It happened. The purpose of the museums and camp now is to show what did happen and prevent it from happening again. 

It was a very cold, dreary day when we went to the camp. We were not properly dressed but the thought of complaining seemed selfish and immature. It was probably fifty degrees when we were there. Prisoners experienced temperatures below freezing wearing much less clothing than we were wearing that day. I wish I could find the words to express the emotion I felt as I walked through the remains of the camp. So much death and fear and heartlessness and sadness occurred on those grounds, as well as on the grounds of countless other concentration camps. My heart was heavy as we walked back to the train station, knowing full well most of the prisoners were never released into freedom. For them, Sachsenhausen was the end.

We rode back to the city and visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe again. It was just kind of a solemn evening. How do you just walk away from that and go back to normalcy? Well, hopefully I won't. Hopefully, I won't.