Sachsenhausen is located in the town of Oranienburg, Berlin. It is in what used to be the center of the town. It was a labor camp that mostly housed prisoners with some political connection, but was later turned into a Soviet "Special Camp." Despite being a labor camp, thousands upon thousands were still killed here. Some died of starvation, disease, torture, execution, gas chamber, and so on. It was a gruesome place and one that had me questioning the capability of humanity over and over again.
I got so much information today it was overwhelming. I am going to do my best to share as much as possible, but I apologize if I leave a lot out. A place of this kind really needs to be experienced firsthand. It is hard through numbers and figures to get an idea of what it was like. It was like nothing I have ever experienced in my entire life.
The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is not to be confused with the Oranienburg Camp which are often confused, but it is important to know they were not the same thing. Two very important parts of history took place in Sachsenhausen; the Concentration Camp and the Soviet Special Camp and Secret Service Headquarters.
In 1961 the camp became a national memorial site. It was built in the summer of 1936 while the Olympic Summer Games were going on in Berlin. In 1945 the camp was liberated only to be handed over to the Soviets and then finally closed in 1950. It was a internment camp and model and training camp for the SS. The overall importance of this camp in German history is immense. Around 30,000 inmates lost their lives here, but most likely a lot more.
It was a fairly easy metro ride to the Camp about tens stops and a twenty minute walk following signs. Upon entering into the Camp things in the surrounding neighborhood seemed really nice. The buildings and houses were probably the nicest I have seen yet in Germany. The concentration camp was literally right among the people.
When the visitor center building was being cleaned out in recent years a worker found a glass bottle that had shattered with a message inside of it. It was a secret message written in 1944 and stored in one of the walls. There was two letters inside; one from a German man and one from a Polish man. They were both prisoners at the camp. The German prisoner spoke about wishing he could see home again and missing his family. The Polish man wrote about being in the prison for so long and how horrible it is. The German man died in the camp and the letter was returned to his widow nearly 60 years later who had lived in a nearby town.
road leading to camp
Next we were brought to the main museum at the site. It was originally where concentration camp staff parked their cars. At one point it was also where the deceased were laid out and claimed by family members or others. Eventually, when the death toll became so large this practice was stopped. During the liberation 7,000 release papers were given out here, though not all prisoners were released.
Here also is one of several mass graves
The walkway of the museum leads to the entrance to the camp. The large building you see ahead is the main camp watch tower. In this building execution orders were made, senior commanding officer office was located, roll call officer and more.
The entrance gate of the camp has a very eery message in German which said, "Work Liberates". All prisoners would enter through this gate upon arrival.
In the pictures below is the "Death Strip". It was called this because if prisoners strayed onto this strip they were shot instantly without hesitation. Guards that shot prisoners that went onto the strip were rewarded with a bonus and time off. It was an incentive. The strip was put into place to prevent escapes. At night dogs would also patrol the camp. Often times prisoners would commit suicide by running onto the death strip. The Soviets continued to use this strip and method.
In the picture below is what an actual barrack in the camp would look like. This particular barrack housed Jewish prisoners who were treated the worst of them all. Barracks number 37, 38, 39, and 42 held Jews. The conditions on the inside of the barracks made me sick to my stomach. Be sure to check out my picture of the washroom, the room with two basins in the middle of it. This is where FOUR HUNDRED prisoners were crammed into at ONE TIME. The washroom was smaller then my dorm room in Paris. Also the toilets were only allowed to be used twice a day by the prisoners if that. Eventually the Jews were all sent to Auschwitz as apart of the "final solution" and executed there.
All prisoners at the camp were treated horribly, but Jews definitely had it worse along with homosexuals, mentally disabled and physically disabled. The physically disabled that could no longer work were put into a barrack where they were never allowed to sit down or lay down.
Only 15 of the original buildings in the entire camp still remain out of the original 50. Stone lots were put in place for visual purpose so visitors can understand the original layout of the camp. Only two barracks remain.
The picture below this paragraph is of the prison within the prison. It was for prisoners that disrupted the order of the camp. Some were housed in this prison for crimes as simple as stealing food for their starving body and so on. Many of them may not have even committed the crimes they were accused of. The prison was built by camp prisoners in 1937 and was one of the first buildings. It contained 80 cells and was where some of the worst punishments took place.
On the outside of the prison was three stakes where prisoners were hung up and tortured. Their arms sprawled out like Jesus on the cross.
One prisoner recounted his experience in 6 weeks of darkness. He survived and became a hero because of it around the camp. On one particular day the head of the camp came to visit him in his cell, he beat him to near death. He yelled at him, "You pig! Why are you not dead yet?!". When he left the prison and entered back into the camp he said everyone told him he looked like a skeleton ghost. He had not seen sunlight in over a month. His eyes and skin were effected greatly by this.
another view of camp
Next I was onto the camp kitchen. The most desired job for a prisoner because it meant they could possibly smuggle food and avoided hard labor. Even so, it is also the building where some of the worst tortures took place by the man in charge of the kitchen. The food each person got daily was extremely minimal and became less and less as the camp became more crowded. Thousands died of starvation.
Here is the camp memorial located in the center of the camp. Even though it was a memorial it still gave me a weird feeling. I really did not like the design of it at all. It has 18 triangles on it representing the 18 European Countries that had prisoners here. Each prisoner in the camp wore a triangle representing where they come from. Except Jews who all had the same triangle. The bottom portion of the memorial lists the countries.
Here is Tower E one of the 24 hour watchtowers. Guards watched for any suspicious behavior and it was there duty to report it. If they witnessed an attempted escape they were supposed to shoot the prisoner no questions asked. These guards really did not interact with the prisoners at all.
Located behind the tower is a large part of the Russian Special Camp established in 1945. The row of houses in the picture below are apart of Oranienburg town. They are also the houses belonging to camp commanders and their families. In total the camp commanders occupied 40 houses. The idea was that they would integrate with the town in order to avoid suspicion. The people in Oranienburg were quite aware of what was going on inside the camp walls, but felt there was nothing they could do without risking their own lives. The cloud of black from the crematorium hung over the houses often and the smell of the burning bodies never seemed to leave.
Here is apart of the Soviet Camp established. Parts of the concentration camp were also used. These barracks had conditions almost as bad as that of the Concentration Camp. I walked inside of one and was disgusted. At this point of the tour I was really starting to get visibly upset. They had one toilet for 40 people and their beds consisted of medal boards. They did not have enough beds either so they slept on top of each other packed like sardines.
Next to the Russian Barracks is also located a mass grave. Around 7-8,000 bodies were buried here.
Now here comes another very disturbing thing. For awhile I was touring the camp on my own because the five of us all got separated at one point. I met up with Adrian in front of the memorial and we walked to the Russian Camp together even though I had already seen it so he could. I sat on a bench waiting for him in a dirt patch kicking up sand. About five minutes into doing this... some sort of bone flies out of the dirt right in front of me. I was in shock...feeling very dizzy... not believing what I was seeing. I went and got Adrian immediately and he confirmed it was some sort of bone. I am not sure if it was human or animal though. It truly could have been either. I was really shaken up about the experience though...thinking about all the remains that are here. All the murdered innocent people. I found a bone of all things..in a place where it very possibly could have been human. I placed the bone in a near by patch of Earth secluded from the rest of the camp. When I placed it down I said a few words for whoever or whatever the bone belonged too.
Next was onto the execution sight of the camp. I apologize this post is so gruesome...I feel like it is one thing after another, but that is the reality of such a place. This all actually happened. I had to keep reminding myself of that. Located inside was a small gas chamber, gallows, neck-shot facilities, gassing vehicles and an execution trench where the majority of the executions took place.
Here is the memorial inside the execution building that is in memory of those murdered.
Here is the quote on the outside of the building.
To be completely honest I did not spend much time in this area. I was very disturbed that humans were capable of such acts and frankly angry. I could not believe a human could do this to another human and especially for no reason at all.
I took a lot of notes on the various kinds of people murdered in the execution area though. I will share just SOME of them.
Most famous would probably be the mass-murder by gun of the 10,000 Soviet POW's in 1941.
125 systematic murder in 1945 of the sick and Jews in order to prepare for a new camp.
Persecution of 600 homosexuals 1939-43
400 Jews murdered overtime. 50 murdered on arrival to camp in February 1945.
30 female workers - February 1945 - reason was sabotage. Gas chamber.
12-14 year old boys - accused looters in Berlin - hundreds killed 1944-45.
71 Dutchmen - May 1942 - shot to death from resisting German occupation
Benuthke Family - 10th and 11th August 1943 - all shot to death because father was a member of KPD, RFB making him an enemy of the state
These are just a few of the executions that took place.
Below is the original 1939 Crematorium that leads the way to the most disturbing in my opinion yet.
Here is the camps infirmary barracks. The medical care as you can imagine inside were extremely inadequate for the time. Many prisoners were sent here to be killed. The things that went on inside this building were horrific. Mentally ill, physically ill and homosexuals were castrated here so they could not reproduce and "infest" the population further. The Jews were not allowed in here at all and denied all medical treatment. If prisoners could no longer work they were of no use and killed here.
In part of the barrack was located the showcase barrack that was used to convince journalists and suspicious parties the conditions inside the camp were fine. Still though the worst thing I heard was about the medical experiments that took place here. Prisoners were used as medical experiments by curious doctors, university clinics and the government. The worst story I heard was about seven jewish boys transported from Auschwitz. The youngest was eight and the oldest fifteen. They were experiments for one REALLY messed up doctor. He separated the boys from their families, brought them here and subjected them to torture. He wanted to test a highly contagious Hepatitis and see the effects the disease would have on humans. He injected the boys with the disease in the most inhumane way ever. He striped them naked, prodded them, poked them and inserted them with all sorts of large needles. One of the boys got very sick and an eye witness commented on how brave he was, but in the end he broke down. Screaming from the pain in his bed, yelling and sobbing uncontrollably. All the eye witness could say to the boy was, "Be brave." It was sickening. I left shaking so distraught and upset. How could they torture little boys????? What person could ever allow that????? Adrian and I could not even look at each other afterwards.
Across from the infirmary barracks was the mortuary of 1941. Autopsies on the bodies of the prisoners were all done here, but it was just a formality. There was a list of seven things a doctor could say a prisoner died of none of those things included starvation or murder.
Here is an example of an actual prisoners pajamas and a Nazi Officer uniform.
I realize a lot of this Blog was about presenting facts and not really personal feelings. It is so difficult to put into words all the things I felt today and the emotions that ran through me. To capture the brutality of the camp too is very difficult. Torture such as leaving prisoners out in freezing temperatures so they lost toes, making them stand for days at a time and killing for no reason...all of these things happened and they are just a few examples.
I could tell another Blog's worth of stories I heard today. While getting a cup of tea after the experience Adrian, Nora and I sat in silence. I did not even realize that was happening until halfway through my cup of tea. None of us had anything to say. We were drained emotionally. It sickens me humans are capable of such horrific acts. How and why is the only question in my mind.
I would ask of you...if you were able to get to this part in my Blog..to please today think of the victims of Sachenhausen Concentration Camp in particular. Remember the victims even if only for a moment. Remember they had families, some were just barely starting their life. Many in Sachenhausen were sent their in the first place because they were fighting for what was right, freedom and liberty. Remember that though Auschwitz is probably the most horrific place on the face of this Earth...victims of the Holocaust were also in many other places such as Sachenhausen. These people need to be remembered too.
I do not have much more to say about this Blog post. I will write about my night hopefully tomorrow. I think it would be wrong to include much more. Thank you for reading.
XOXO
Shann
I am speechless.
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