Wednesday 31st July -Day 4
Day 4 in the big brother house............at Hochlland Hostel :)
Today we met with Achim and Eric who had come to see us on Monday and taught us more about the concentration camps and in particular about the stories of a man named Otto Wiesner who was imprisoned in the concentration camp Sachsenhausen in 1934. We went to visit the concentration camp in Oranienburg. The camp wasn't what we had expected and it was explained to us that the memorial hopes to share the story of the survivors. The museum and camp shows and gives an understanding or what life would have been like, back then for the prisoners.
Achim shared with us stories which Otto had shared with him about the executions and how people were shot, hung or tortured, it felt weird for us to be there in the actual place that this had once happened.
A story was shared about how the camp were also used to exploit and we listened to the story of companies that used the prisoners to test the soles of shoes for wear and tear by enforcing the solders to undergo horrific routines such as walking 33k a day wearing sand bags and without food, it was hard for us to walk the mile around the camp in the sunshine wearing our latest nike trainers and vans, it's really hard to imagine what this would have been like.
The concentration camp was situated at the end of a street, just like where we live in the middle of a local housing estate where people lived, we heard how people often turned a blind eye to what was happening at the camp, probably in fear of repercussions for themselves and their families if they chose to speak up.
We were able to view the cells and the sleeping conditions of the soldiers and how they would wash and be treated and were told about amazing stories of bravery such as setting up schools to educate the younger prisoners, giving them faith that they could get out one day and have freedom, we read plaques which shared stories of British pilots which had died here and say the cell where Martin Niemoller had stayed , we remembered his famous poem and reflected upon what this had meant for us,
We read a quote which was on the walls of the crematorium building
After this we travelled back to the accommodation by train and it was one of the lads groups turn to cook, they made a great meal, of rice, sweet and sour chicken, stir fry, salad and wraps, it was delicious, we all really enjoyed eating together, we had plans after this to go to a local park but we were tired and so agreed to stay in and clean our rooms which are getting a bit smelly...we also plan to have an early night :)
Peace
Suheyb, Willi, Melad and Adam
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