Day 13 - A Free and Sobering Day - the Concentration Camps of Sachsenhausen

We had vacillated for days as to whether we would visit the camp and last night it was decided to go ahead and do it lest we felt regret later.  Rita, Carol, Rick, Susy, Bobbie and I headed out on the northbound train to the village of Oranienburg.  There we walked a bit over a mile to the site.  This is the camp where they housed (and killed) the Christians, political dissidents, and the Gays.  This is also where they carried on medical experiments to perfect torture and biological weaponry.

The entrance gate.  It says "work makes free."

It is a huge area, as the model map below shows, surrounded by a high concrete block fence and a razor wire fence inside of the wall.  Dogs and guards patrolled the strip continuously.

The firing pit.  This is where they lined up the prisoners and shot them.  They used a bit to keep the sound muffled.

The crematories where they burned the evidence of the killings.

 The memorial erected after liberation.

 The medical labs where they carried on experiments.

 The gas chamber.

 The morgue.

Only a few of the barracks survived and have been restored.

The walk back was quiet as we reflected on what we saw.  Later in the day upon our return to Berlin we joined the Hop on Hop Off Bus for a one hour goodbye tour of Berlin.  It was a nice distraction from the day's earlier activity.