Sachsenhausen

the entrance gate. "work will set you free" 

Since we saw pretty much everything in Berlin we wanted to see thus far (which was completely unexpected considering how little we had seen on new year’s day), we decided to go to the concentration camp that was just a little way out of the town. 

It was downright FREEZING that day, but we thought it would be a good day to see what the prisoners had to go through and we got a much better idea of what they had to battle while they were imprisoned. First, I think it would be wise to give you a rundown of a few of the facts:

• The camp was more than 500 soccer fields (it was HUGE)  
• 200,000 people were imprisoned throughout the duration of the camp's existence 
• It was also the blueprint for how many other concentrations camps would be built
• It was mostly for Soviets because it was in Prussia and was also initially run by National Socialists, not the SS (the SS eventually took over)
• When the SS heard that the camp was going to be liberated, they made the 33,000 prisoners go on a death march in which only 3,000 survived.
• Swiss efforts were made to liberate before the US came, but they were only able to take out a few people.
• It was indeed an extermination camp, complete with gas chambers
• Another form of execution was to make the prisoners step up onto a platform and they were told they were being fitted for new uniforms. In reality, there was a room behind them with an armed SS soldier that shot them in the back of the neck through a small hole in the wall
• There was an attached political prison

As we were walking there we were diligently reviewed the facts we had researched (as gruesome as that sounds, we wanted to be well prepared for what we were about to see). When we got there we saw the layout and then headed through the gate, all the while telling each other “wow, they walked RIGHT here”, “this is really where they were lined up” -- it seemed so surreal. 

We eventually found a little building that was once the kitchen, but now was used as a movie screening room where you could watch a little documentary of the history of the camp. It was very informational and helped guide the rest of our tour. 

Eventually, we found the political prison, the mass grave and memorial, and some barracks, and then it was SO cold that we decided that there probably wasn’t much more to see. Then, we saw that there was a little detour you could make. It turned out that that was where the execution room, crematorium, and execution trench were. These were all preserved so well and both of our hearts sank as we read the information signs that explained exactly what each room was: the gas chamber showers, the “changing room”, the room where they tried on their new uniforms (only to be shot in the head), the mortuary, and the crematorium. It was awful, and I think that was when it finally clicked as to what exactly we were seeing. 

the mass graves and memorial for those who died there

the execution trench 

floor plan of the foundation (which is in back) of the execution building.  on the top left of this floor plan is the gas chamber, on the far right is the mortuary where they extracted gold teeth and other valuables, and other rooms were "doctors offices"and "examination rooms". awful.