[pic: Basel fireworks. As is often the way, this picture really doesnt capture how impressive these fireworks were]
After that I trained to Munich and met up with Matt Smith. It was terrific to see a familiar face! Munich (and Bavaria) is what people think of when they think of stereotypical Germany (ie, beer halls, laderhosen, sausages and Nazis...). Its a really interesting place and very pretty as well.
On our second day we decided to go to the Dachau concerntration camp. It was a harrowing experience. I´d heard from Jemma that apparently no birds fly over the concerntration camp and this proved to be true, which gave it an even more eerie feel. The first thing that strikes you when you visit a camp like that is its sheer size. Dachau was the first concerntration camp but certainly not the largest and it was truly massive. When you also think that Dachau was one of 2,500 simililar camps around Europe you it hits home what a massive institution it was. The institution being the state sponsored persecution and, eventually, extermination of fellow human beings. Its a frightening thing when you realise its not just a few wackos doing this, but an entire institution.
[pic: Dachau concerntration camp, the main yard. This gives you a sense of the scale when you consider that the space depicted here represents about one fiftieth of the size of the entire camp]
Its also frightening when you begin to learn about the systems that were used to maintain order and ensure that everyone went along with it. They were clearly thought up by some intelligent, yet very evil, people. For instance, cleanliness was the medium used to terrorize the prisoners of these camps. When the prisoners arrived they were showered and brutally shaved to make sure they were clean. If anything wasn´t clean, they were beaten, whipped and made an example of. This process was repeated whenever they were forced to move camp (which we were told happenned regularly). So when the SS wanted to gas the prisoners all they had to do was move them to a different camp and instead of shower them show them to the gas chamber. Of course when the prisoners arrived at the new camp they were expecting a shower and didn´t find out they were being gassed until it was too late.
Another scary system in place is that whenever a prisoner was beaten or tortured it took place in the shower rooms. This is so all evidence of the crime could be covered up by turning on the water and washing everything away. Very important if there are to be visitors that are about to be shown the camp for propoganda purposes...
All of the brutality that went on at these camps was carefully orchestrated. Nothing was an accident. Even the most horrific torture was ordered, and signed off by a number of different officers. This no doubt allowed the soldier carrying out the order to feel absolved of any moral responsibility.
Complex and smart systems used for the most evil of purposes.
[pic: A picture of a reconstructed "dorm" room. There were about 3 prisoners per bed]
And there was absolutely no hope of escape either. The prison was actually a small part of a much larger camp and if you did manage to crawl through the electrofied barbed wire fence, and through the moat, you would find yourself in the middle of the SS barracks (where a few thousand SS were based). Even if you got out of that you knew that because you escaped the guards would round up 10 people at random from your room and execute them. Just as bad, when the camp first opened it was only the men that were sent there and the women and children stayed at home. If you were to escape the SS would simply round up your family and have them gassed.
[pic: this shows the perimeter of the prisoner section of the camp. If you can make it past the shown moat and electrified fence you found yourself in the SS part of the camp. I should also point out that I didnt take any pictures of the gass chambers - it didnt seem appropriate at the time]
All of these systems were put in place to control an entire population and they were very very effective.
I´m pleased I went to Dachau and saw it for myself but by the end of this Matt and I were in need of a pick me up. So we decided to go to the Englisch Gardens for a beer. We decided to detour via the man made wave to check out the surfers and stumbled upon the nudist part of the gardens. This was pretty gross, especially the obese German guy who was jingling his tackle at the passers by.
So we went there for a pick me up but in the end only succeeded in replacing one horrific image with another!
[pic: the surfers at the Englisch gardens]
That night we met up for dinner with Sebastian (a friend of Matt´s who worked at Simpson Grierson for a while) and his friend Fabian. Both are terrific guys and it was great to be shown Munich by some locals. Sebastian even offered his place to stay for Oktoberfest which was an incredibly generous offer. The only catch is if we are sitting at his table we too would have to don laderhosen...
I´m currently in Salzburg. Its a pretty place but has been killed by the crappy weather (which looks to be settling in). Vienna tomorrow so hopefully I have better luck there!
Anthony
PS. I hope to post pictures soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment