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On the first day of summer I nearly died of cold. Actually. I was quite sure that my toes were going to drop off. Thongs were a bad choice of footwear that day! The crazy this is, the day before when we arrived, Berlin was sweltering - it was hot & muggy, & felt very much like being in the middle of a Queensland afternoon storm. By the following morning the rain had stopped & the cold had set in.
We took a day trip just out of Berlin to the town of Oranienburg where the holocaust memorial Sachsenhausen is located. Sachsenhausen is a former concentration camp that was established by the National Socialists in 1936, where more than 10 000 people (Jews, homosexuals, Romas & Sintis, various political opponents & prisoners of war, along with anyone else who didn't fit the Nazi stereotype of an ideal member of the Aryan race) lost their lives both during World War 2, and also in the lead up to the war when the Nazis were establishing their power. I believe it is now referred to as a memorial to emphasize the fact that it no longer exists as a concentration camp, but rather serves as a means by which not to forget the horrible atrocities that occurred during the past.
I suppose it's not what you would call a particularly "fun" day out, but it was certainly very moving, & I think both Nigel & I learnt a lot. We went there with a small tour group (only 6 of us ventured out in the cold that day), & our guide Carlos, who had studied history at university & gone on to do a Masters in history at Oxford, & is pretty much a walking encyclopedia on that era of German history. He guided us through the different areas of the memorial & explained to us about how the camp was used both during the time of the Nazis, & also by the Soviets between 1945 and 1950. He also touched on the controversies that have surrounded how East Germany developed it as a memorial site (which emphasized anti-fascism & championed communism, but skipped over some other parts of the regime such as the prominent anti-Semitism), & how this has changed since the reunification of Germany.
We stood out on the marching grounds shivering in the bitter cold as I desperately wished I'd brought a beanie, or a scarf, or even socks (for goodness sake!), & I could only imagine how awful it must have been to be assembled there for hours in the snow in the middle of winter, wearing much less than even we were. But even though it was a somber day, & quite sad at many times, it's something I'm really glad I've seen & done, because I think it's important to learn about those kinds of things so that we understand how they can happen, & perhaps reduce the chances of it ever happening again.
We had planned to go out in the evening, but by the time we got back to Munich we were both so exhausted (mentally & physically!) that we just ate dinner & crashed.
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