Tommy Flanagan Berlin has something for everyone! From history buffs, to night-life-seekers, Berlin has it all! I have really enjoyed my time here taking in the language, the history and the culture.

This past week, we visited a concentration camp call Sachsenhausen. To get there, just hop on the S1 train and sit on it for about an hour. When you get off at Oranienburg, take a bus to the site. (But that is really beside the point.)

When I first got there, I was struck by how incredibly ordinary it looked. It is just tucked away between the suburbs of Oranienburg and the end of a forest. When you walk into the concentration camp, you see a long concrete wall that forms a triangle around the bunkers. When you walk into the camp, you walk through an arch-way that says "Arbiet macht Frei." Many of the bunkers are no longer there. However, there are two bunkers on the edge of the camp devoted to reconstructing the conditions at the camp.

The bunker has a bathroom. In the bathrooms are toilets with no stalls and wash basins. Here, sometime hundereds of people at a time were forced to wash-up for thirty mintues in the morning. The bathrooms were completely filthy. To torture the prisoners, the guards would somtimes lock them in the bathrooms all day and not allow them to move, standing in the filth of the bathroom. On the other extreme, guards only allowed the prisoners to use the bathroom maybe twice per day. These are just two examples at the torture that occured daily.

Further back in the bunker were individual stories and a history of the camp itself. One could spend the whole day reading about real people and their experience in the camp.

Cement squares mark the places in which building used to be with little signs giving the name of the building. On the square, one can see rocks that people have placed on them. This is a Jewish sign of peace and respect.

Toward the other end of the triangle camp is a memoial to its victims. A large column with triangles at the top stands taller than any other structure in the camp. The triangels were worn by the prisoners and were color coded for what they were imprisoned for. There was a different triangle for Jews, homosexuals, political prisoners, and Gypsies.

On the other side of one of the walls is "Station Z". This is where they used to carry out executions such as gassing and shooting. There was a a building where the guards burned bodies and buried the ashes after they carried out the execution. It is a very chilling feeling walking into that particular part of the camp. Now, a memoiral stands there, explaining what used to happen there.

As I was leaving, I was struck with the same thing that hit me at the beginning. It is so "ordinary" looking. I think that is part of what the memorial as a whole tries to convey. How could such terrible things happen in such an "ordinary" place. With all the education there is about this period of history, I hope that we can prevent this from ever happening again.

On a lighter note, we had a great evening eating at the Schwarzes Cafe after our visit. We reviewed highlights from the trip and all came to the conclusions that we would love to have more time in Berlin and all hope to come back someday soon! Now, the only thing I really have to worry about is if I have enough money to pay the taxi driver in the morning. (Shouldn't have eatten so many pastries dang it!)

After this trip, I have had a renewed desire to learn German! I can't wait to come back in the future and learn more about German and its culture!