Soviet liberation memorial in the middle of the camp
The first thing I want to bring to light is the widespread misuse of the world ‘holocaust’, it should only be used to refer to one particular incident, which is the systematic massacre of Jews, Romas, Sintis, the disabled, the dumb, and others considered ‘undesirable’ by the national socialist regime. The lack of gun control in America isn’t a ‘holocaust’, it’s a product of a capitalist economy. You get the idea. I’ve been to sites such as Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice to see the video and audio archives of the trials and researched national socialist ideology as an academic subject. Take it from me, the holocaust is not to be compared with anything else, come up with a new word for other events.
The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp has had a storied history; it first served as a political prison for the Third Reich and then as an internal affairs prison camp by the Soviet government in East Berlin. Chemical weapons were tested on the prisoners in the camp and inmates were expected to produce building material for Hitler’s grand plans for Berlin. Initially, prisoners were executed by traditional means such as hanging or shooting, but a gas chamber was added on later for higher efficiency. I wanted to take a picture of the ruins of the gas chambers, but I felt it would be disrespectful to show a place of execution of the innocent in public. I’m not one who capitalizes on the sensationalism of the second world war, it is indeed a solemn affair.
Some of the prisons
Due to its role as a political prison, many notable people were once held here. Trygve Bratteli later became the prime minister of Norway, Georg Elser who was improsoned for an assasinationattempt on Hitler, two British spies named Churchill because the Germans mistakenly thought they were related to the prime minister, Paul Reynaud the former prime minister of France, Antonín Zápotocký who later became the prime minister of Czechoslovakia, Fracisco Caballero the former prime minister of Spain, and the list goes on…
If you’re in Berlin it’s only a one hour regional train ride to the museum, entry is free and you can learn a lot from the bilingual displays and interactive exhibits inside the site. My favorite ones were the videos of interviews with former prisoners in the jails that they stayed in, it makes the experience real when you can put a face on it.
Never again.
