Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau in the morming.

[ANADRILL]

This will be an eye opener..

[2XS]

Yes it will be a real experience for you for sure. It will be interesting to see what to you think of it.

[rbeau30]

Post Pictures!

[mightiestmouse]

I visited Buchenwald in Weimar while I was in Germany for a few months for work. Very humbling experience for me as it showed how cruel and evil humans can be to each other given different circumstances. The countries that had concentration camps have done a great job in preserving what actually happened throughout their operating time.

[Mazin]

Damn man that's going to be a hard one.

[BPTactical]

A place of reverence, a place of unadulterated evil that men can do.
Please post pics and a good report.

Lest we never forget.....

[funkymonkey1111]

A place of reverence, a place of unadulterated evil that men can do.
Please post pics and a good report.

Lest we never forget.....

what they can do against those they've disarmed as a result of slowly implemented policy

[mindfold]

Even as a stupid high school kid, I knew what it meant to be there and I never forgot. One of the girl's in my class grandfather was part of the american force that liberated that camp. He told us what it was like before we left.

It got through.

[Wulf202]

My grand father liberated a camp with his unit. Next time I'm back home I hope to read his letters home and I'll get a picture of the captured german sniper scope.

[zteknik]

I've been to Auschwitz-creepy place.
There's some spots even in 90degree weather you can see your breath.

[T-Giv]

I've been as well. Very hard to go to but an experience worth the trouble.

[mtnrider]

Been to Dachau camp years ago. Definitely makes you reflect on the evil in this world. And makes me more adamant that I will never give up my right to defend myself against such evil.

[SideShow Bob]

The wife works at an adult care facility, some of the residents have the number tattoos, fewer and fewer left every year........
We need to keep the memories of the horrors they endured alive. Lest we forget and history repeats.

[Gman]

Ah, but we're so much more evolved in our modern societies in just 70 years. [Sarcasm2]

It's just amazing how low human beings can go, and also how during the same period they can unselfishly risk their own lives to save the lives of others. Take it in and never forget.

[mightiestmouse]

Sorry if this isn't real legible... but here are a few pictures from my visit to Buchenwald.

Main Gate (under renovation - the clock is stuck on the time the camp was liberated)
45341

Crematorium
45343

Under the crematorium (I got the worst chills of my life down here)
45345

"Everyone gets what he deserves"
45347

Remnants of the zoo for Nazi guards
45349

Coming off the train
45351

Memorial of liberation
45353

[MOD: Cleaned up the presentation for better readability. I think this topic deserves the best we can offer.]

[rbeau30]

Thanks for the pictures I know I will not be going overseas any time soon or ever.

Some say that the Germans were just following orders or did not know what was going on.... I say bullshit. To me the guards are just as guilty as the leader of the pack. They were just living and proving what the Stanford Prison Experiment sought to prove. And unfortunately I believe that if we do not forget what happened there and during that time, history WILL repeat itself.

[mindfold]

Thanks for the pictures I know I will not be going overseas any time soon or ever.

Some say that the Germans were just following orders or did not know what was going on.... I say bullshit. To me the guards are just as guilty as the leader of the pack. They were just living and proving what the Stanford Prison Experiment sought to prove. And unfortunately I believe that if we do not forget what happened there and during that time, history WILL repeat itself.

It already is in some "lesser" parts of the world. They are just not news worthy places. Americans are burned out on helping people who do not want to be helped. Some say it is just human nature.


Sent from my tin foil coated mind reading device.

[KestrelBike]

Thanks for the pictures I know I will not be going overseas any time soon or ever.

Some say that the Germans were just following orders or did not know what was going on.... I say bullshit. To me the guards are just as guilty as the leader of the pack. They were just living and proving what the Stanford Prison Experiment sought to prove. And unfortunately I believe that if we do not forget what happened there and during that time, history WILL repeat itself.

If you're not in the mood to sleep, read "Hitler's Willing Executioners". heavy stuff.

[brutal]

Visited Bergen-Belsen when I was stationed in W Germany in the early 80's. Words cannot describe. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen-Belsen_concentration_camp

Pretty sure all those pics were lost in one of our moves.

Sent from my subconscious mind.

[rbeau30]

If you're not in the mood to sleep, read "Hitler's Willing Executioners". heavy stuff.


I will add that to the rotation.

[flogger]

I visited Dachau, the place is full of ghosts. We later went to the actual courtroom where the war crimes trials were held in Nuremberg. Awesome trip.

[ray1970]

I make it a point to stay in my own country. Kind of makes it difficult for me to see a lot of things with historical history.

Thanks for sharing.

[Great-Kazoo]

Thanks for the pictures I know I will not be going overseas any time soon or ever.

Some say that the Germans were just following orders or did not know what was going on.... I say bullshit. To me the guards are just as guilty as the leader of the pack. They were just living and proving what the Stanford Prison Experiment sought to prove. And unfortunately I believe that if we do not forget what happened there and during that time, history WILL repeat itself.


If you're not in the mood to sleep, read "Hitler's Willing Executioners". heavy stuff.

Try watching Shoah . Some of the interviews with the "Locals" are interesting. They're asking one old timer about the death camps. Oh no we were never aware of such atrocity happening, NEVER. Keeping in mind as they interview him, the camera slowly pans out from where the guy is standing, to about 100 - 200'. As it expands the view there behind him is the camp.
Like living on 14th & Logan saying you didn't know the Capitol was down the block.



http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-shoah-1985

[Bitter Clinger]

Thanks for the pictures I know I will not be going overseas any time soon or ever.

Some say that the Germans were just following orders or did not know what was going on.... I say bullshit. To me the guards are just as guilty as the leader of the pack. They were just living and proving what the Stanford Prison Experiment sought to prove. And unfortunately I believe that if we do not forget what happened there and during that time, history WILL repeat itself.

I went to three of them when I went to Europe for my senior trip, not something I ever want to see again. But it was a good experience for a 18 Y/O kid. Please remember though, It was not the "Germans" it was the nazi's. BIG difference. Many forget that the first country the nazi's invaded was Germany. I am of German heritage. My grandfather was full blood German and hated nazi's, the U.S. army turned him down for flat feet. He wanted to fight the scum.

[ANADRILL]

Yeah like in the crematorum in Auschwitz I, the building was orginal, the chimney and ovens were remade, but in that place the temp seemed to drop 10degs... All I can say is that it was the most horrifying place I have ever seen....

[whitbaby]

I visited Dachau, the place is full of ghosts. We later went to the actual courtroom where the war crimes trials were held in Nuremberg. Awesome trip.

I took a motorcycle tour of the Alps in '95. On the way back to Munich I went to Dachau...a real somber place.
The sculpture in front of the old admin building was particularly memorable...those poor tortured souls...

[whitbaby]

My grand father liberated a camp with his unit. Next time I'm back home I hope to read his letters home and I'll get a picture of the captured german sniper scope.

Reminds me of a trip to the Trinity site at White Sands Missile Range the wife and I took some years ago.

We were walking along the fence viewing some of the posters of the bombs when we came upon an old couple holding hands and shuffling along ahead of us.
They were friendly with dark skin and broken English. They said the bomb saved their lives.
We asked how that happened. They said they were in a Japanese jungle prison camp in Burma with terrible conditions.

They woke up one morning and all the prison guards were gone, taking all the food with them. With the locked gates unattended they were able to pull them open.
A British and Australian patrol was walking down the jungle road and found the prisoners in the jungle foraging for food...snakes, rats, roots, etc.
The patrol didn't even know the camp was there. They then learned the bomb had been dropped and the war was over.
The patrol gave them all the food they had and called in to their HQ's for evacuation/care.

The couple looked at us and said 'Thank You'...Jesus...thank US? ... but we knew what they meant.
We continued the tour with the shuttle over to McDonalds Ranch and thought about that encounter for days.
Jeeze...

[ANADRILL]

I will post pics when I get back. It took quite a few beers to relax me after seeing that.

[ANADRILL]

Link to Pictures

http://s382.photobucket.com/user/zinux9/library/?view=recent

[rbeau30]

I went to three of them when I went to Europe for my senior trip, not something I ever want to see again. But it was a good experience for a 18 Y/O kid. Please remember though, It was not the "Germans" it was the nazi's. BIG difference. Many forget that the first country the nazi's invaded was Germany. I am of German heritage. My grandfather was full blood German and hated nazi's, the U.S. army turned him down for flat feet. He wanted to fight the scum.

I will educate myself further on this subject. I am an open-minded person.

[vossman]

The crematorium one is crazy, what is that thing on the rails? A pusher or something.

Also, I don't get the tie die shirt hanging up and paints in between the 2 structures.

[BPTactical]

Chilling and moving pics ANADRIL.
Thank you

[flogger]

Chilling and moving pics ANADRIL.
Thank you

You will never forget that visit, you did a great job taking those pictures, they speak. Thanks for sharing them.

[ANADRILL]

Chilling and moving pics ANADRIL.
Thank you
No problem, i just wish you guys could have been there to see it as well.

[rbeau30]

???? Bit confused by this comment. The Nazis were German people, citizens, folk. It's not like the Nazis suddenly appeared like Ghengis Khan and took over the country. German citizens VOLUNTARILY joined the party and gave it the power to run/win elections(Hitler got over 30% vote in the election that made him Chancellor). German citizens allowed it to happen. German citizens joined the military and killed millions. German citizens purchased millions of copies of Mein Kampf and made Hitler a millionaire (he never paid taxes on this either, weird fact). Do not blame WW2, the Holocaust, and 50 million dead on the Nazis. It was Germany and the German people. Not all Germans were Nazis(most citizens didn't join party) and evil folk but the majority let it happen and do the deeds. Not all German companies were evil but companies like Siemans, Bayer/BASF(both IG Farben) BMW(50% workforce were concentration camp prisoners) profited tremendously from the conflict. Blaming it on Nazis and not the German folk is just passing the buck. Sorry but true. Now, does that make Germany a bad country? Seems that those folks have been pretty fine allies over the past 50 years. Sins of the fathers...


This is how I see things but I have a couple non-fiction books ahead to read yet.

If you allow your leaders to have power they will take all they can. Sounds like another, more familiar slippery slope, doesn't it?

[HoneyBadger]

In addition to Shoah, here is some reading that I recommend on the topic:

Ordinary Men by Christopher R Browning
Hitler's Beneficiaries by Gotz Aly
War & Genocide by Doris L Bergen
Between Dignity and Despair by Marion A Kaplan