Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp - Near Berlin

Before I can post pictures of our Christmas adventures, I need to finish our Berlin trip. We took a day trip out to see the Sachsenhausen (Saxon-house-en) Concentration Camp Memorial - it was an interesting experience.  I don't really want to get into too many of the gory details, so I'll keep it as simple as possible. The picture below is the "gate" where all prisoners were brought into the camp.  We learned that people who were brought to such camps weren't just those who were Jewish, but could really be anyone who didn't agree with the government and its' policies.  The criteria was so vague that it was possible to "collect" anyone and have them imprisoned.   Over 200,000 people were interned here, and over 50,000 of them died.  The camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945 and  used to detain former Nazis and members of the Third Reich

These are the barracks where the Nazi military were housed.  These facilities are still used today by the German police to house trainees.  This particular concentration camp was a training facility for all the camps in the area.  Officers were trained in all the latest "techniques" here at Sachsenhausen; and it also served as an experimental location where new methods for inflicting death were tested.

This is the inner field.  Those grey areas are stone pads where the dormitories that once held prisoners once stood.  The grassy area was used twice a day for "roll call" where prisoners were paraded out for hours at a time to be counted.  As we learned about all these things, the wind was whipping, and the below freezing temperature was inflicting pain on our skin; however, none of us were able to complain when we considered the prisoners who stood out in such conditions (or worse) for hours on end with much less clothing on to protect them from the cold.

This is the toilet area.  As if it wasn't enough to be "worked to death" in these camps, the dehumanization of the people who were held here was heartbreaking.  The 500 prisoners who shared these dorms were given 15 minutes each day to use the toilet facilities.  You can imagine that it was nearly impossible to get a chance to use the bathroom when sharing with that many people.

This is a picture (through glass) of the bunks that were shared by up to 3 men at a time.

This is the wash basins next to the bathroom above. Only two sinks for everyone in the dormitory.

The sign below, roughly translated states that if anyone walks into this Neutral Zone, they will be shot immediately and without warning.  As if the barbed wire, the electric fence, the guards with guns, and the 9 foot walls were not enough to keep prisoners detained....if someone were to make it over the wall, they wouldn't be "outside" the camp, but rather within the barracks of the commanding officers.

We weren't surprised to hear that many prisoners would cross this line intentionally just to put an end to their suffering.
This is the "Shooting Pit".  Pretty sure you can imagine, without explanation, what this area was used for.

The picture below is the remains of the gas chamber....no further explanation needed.

The picture below is the remains of the ovens that were used to "dispose" of the remains of those who had been killed at Sachsenhausen.  They said that neighbors often complained of the smell.

In my next post, I'll wrap up the trip to Berlin on a happier note.  This was definitely an eye-opening experience, to say the least.