On the Entrance Gate, the iron reads "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work sets you free".
The Sachsenhausen Camp was the second camp constructed by the Nazi's in the 1930's. The first was Dachau near Munich, but Sachsenhausen served as a different camp than most. When people hear concentration camps or forced labor camps they automatically think of the Nazi extermination of the Jews. This is true for many of the camps, but this was not the reason for the construction of this camp. This was mostly a political camp, although as the war went on it also held and murdered many Jews. Although it was a political camp the prisoners were still treated less than human, starved, beaten, and forced to help the Nazi cause in which ever way they were told. Many of the first prisoners here were Nazi political opponents and harsh criminals, then more homosexuals, gypsies, and then eventually many jews.
This camp is also unique in that after the liberation of the camps, this one was still maintained by the Soviets as a prison and an armery. At the memorial you can see how the camp started in the early 30's, then how it grew through the war, and then grew further under Soviet control. Before entering, our guide showed us the areas on the large camp footprint.
From the footprint we walk along side of the camp just as the prisoners did to the entrance.
Inside the first entrance gate the new prisoners were brought in to be examined and then some were made example, by being beaten or killed in front of everyone. And once everyone was accounted for they proceeded through the main gates into the camp.
Inside the main gate was the role call area where the prisoners were required to stand and be accounted for twice a day while lined up in front of the main tower, Tower A. Tower A was the point of a triangle where a machine gun sat pointing right at them ready to kill if someone fell.
Around the camp was a wall complete with wire at the top and then inside was an electric fence. After many prisoners voluntarily threw themselves into the fence the guards place barbed wire coils and an neural zone to which if anyone stepped would be shot on site. And then it wouldn't be easy to off themselves as well.
There were many barracks inside of the camp and only a few remain today, but in the place of the old barracks and memorial stands where people come to visit lives lost there as the barracks were also a dangerous place for some. Here is a memorial.
The barracks soon became overcrowded as the war went on and more people (mostly Jews from Poland) came to the camp. What many people don't know is that there were only about 500,000 Jews living in Germany when the war began. Many of the Sachsenhausen Jews were from Poland where 3.5 million Jews resided. Many of them were taken to Polish camps like Krakow and Auschwitz, but many of them also came to German camps. Any way the living conditions weren't good for anyone and the worst were for the Jews as you can imagine. They didn't have furniture in their living quarters...they had to sleep on their sides on the floor to house as many of them as possible. Sometimes the guards would come in and torture or kill people...or open the windows in the winter or close the windows in the summer to suffocate them. Other times the prisoners themselves would kill eachother if they felt someone was placing them in danger. A popular place for this was in the toilet area or in the washrooms of the barracks.
The washroom...
The toilets...
Other inmates in other barracks were allowed to sleep in beds if they were important enough. Three people shared each layer of each bunk and these were the lucky ones.
The camp also had a prison that held very important prisoners. These would include Allied troops that were captured or important political people that the Nazi's feared might be killed in the camp by mistake. One of these people was Stalin's illegitimate son, who eventually killed himself there. These prisoners were regularly beaten and tortured by horrible means. The next photo is on one of those torture tactics with a footprint of the prison behind it.
On the opposite side of Tower A, there is a taller tower that was built as a memorial to the defeat of fascism.
At the edge of the camp is Station Z and other similar areas like the one below. The execution by firing range was considered to be honorable, so only military and political leaders were murdered here...everyone else was killed at Station Z.
On the way to Station Z, there are many memorials to the places where the ashes from prisoners were placed into giant pits. These pits are now marked by greenspace and other materials.
What there is left of Station Z is now covered to preserve the ruins. Station Z included a gas chamber, exam room, and a crematorium. Here is the memorial overlooking the ruins.
And the ruins themselves.
And sadly, the ovens or what is left of them.
Clearly a sobering experience, but certainly an important one. I never could understand why some people believe that none of this ever happened, and now I am truly confused as the evidence exists at many of these camps. This camp in particular really puts into perspective how many different groups of people were pursicuted as the hands of Hilter and the Nazi's.
Enough sad remembrance for today. Tomorrow is Poland!
Auf Wiedersehen.
Yesterday, TJ found us two fans for our very warm and sometimes uncomfortable home. It is creeping up into the 80's with some humidity and will be close to 90 F by weeks end so we decided to make things more tolerable for ourselves, although once we get into July they may not even help. We will see.
