Jonathan Kranich Yesterday we spent the day walking around Sachsenhausen concentration camp. It was one of the eeriest I think I have ever been to. It all started with a long walk along the outer wall of the camp (following the path many of the prisoners would have walked) and taking our first steps into the camp past the typical "Arbeit macht Frei" sign...the weather was less than optimal; rain, a little bit of wind, and very cold. Prof. Christensen quite rightly commented that it seemed appropriate...

The first building was an old barracks where the prisoners slept. It was dark and musty, the bathrooms were nothing more than functional. I can't imagine what it would have been like to only be allowed two breaks for the bathroom in a day and there being such a mad rush that many people were trampled and died. Just for the bathroom! Another building talked a little about life at the camp. One item on display was a bench with straps and it was used for punishment. Prisoners would be bent over and strapped down, then their backs beaten with 25 strikes. Many prisoners kept margarine for the welts, but most died in their frail state.

At the far end of the camp is Tower E - the second tower built at the camp. Inside was information about the town only a couple hundred meters away. The frightening apathy of the town is disheartening. Many accounts talked about the people knowing that conditions were poor and the prisoners were being burned. They said the sky would fill with black smoke and the smell of burning flesh would last for 6 days. The head of the SS told all of his officers that they were to deny any claims or rumors the townspeople spoke of and assure that everything in the camp was fine.

Just beyond Tower E is the Soviet section. This was reserved for the Soviet prisoners of the camp. In one of the buildings I found myself in a small, empty room with a one-line quote "there was only one toilet...one toilet for all 36 of them"...such horrible living conditions. In addition, the building housing these 36 prisoners was maybe 10' x 10'. However, following the war the camp became occupied by the Soviets and those who were running the camp were now IN the camp. A sick irony.

As I walked through the camp I was cold, wet, and getting hungry. Yet, I would remind myself where I was, the amount of clothing I was wearing compared to the prisoners who had once occupied the camp, the fact that I would be leaving FREELY....knowing the prisoners were often forced to stand outside for hours during roll-call, many of them passing out from exhaustion, helps one to remember the blessings in their life. I would also remember that we were at a labor camp, not an extermination camp like Auschwitz. As horrifying as Saschenhausen was, I can't even imagine the horrible feeling that would come from a visit to Auschwitz.