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Published: October 21st 2005
Hi
I haven't had time to write many journals since i have started my European Tour, but thought I would add this one out of order, sorry it's a bit depressing but it certainly left an impression on all those present....
Well we have arrived safe and sound in Munich....
Today we talked about Adolph Hitler and saw some of the effects that he had. Let me start by telling you a bit about him...
Adolph Hitler was born in Austria to his parents who were actually cousins....He had 6 brothers and sisters but all died bar 1, who was retarded.
They say that his deep seated hatred for the Jewish may stem from the fact that his mother was believed to be treated by a Jewish doctor when she died of breast cancer.
Hitler had 7 girlfriends, 6 died or tried to kill themselves and one other was a famous lady who went public about Hitler's bizarre and sick sexual fantasies. shortly after she mysteriously fell out of a window. He then had a long relationship with his nieces which resulted in her eventually shooting herself. The one after that he kept locked up
for his only personal use.
He got kicked out of school and when his parents died he ended up living on the streets of Vienna painting postcards and selling them to survive....
He joined the army, becoming a Corporal, and ended up winning 2 awards for bravery in the 1st World War.
Hitler was said to be devastated when Germany lost the war and vowed revenge for Germany. In 1923 he tried to overthrow the government (The Nazi Group) and was arrested and sentenced to 5 years, of which he only spent 6 months actually imprisoned. He wrote a book called 'My Struggle'. It is said that there were 162,000 grammatical and spelling errors in the book due to his lack of school attendance.
Hitler was intent on eradicating minority groups including the Jews, Blacks, Communists etc. He became very powerful. Wealthy people backed him as they thought it would save them against Communism.
He ended up so powerful that the Government formed decided to form a coalition with him. Not long after the Parliament burned down and a state of emergency was declared, which left Hitler, in his role as Chancellor, now in control
to make any changes that he saw fit. The first thing he did was to abolish all other political parties, ripped up treaties and other documents and started reclaiming German land, rearming the military etc.
People were drawn to Hitler because of his passion, power and charisma and promises to answer their prayers.
He offered a devastated country a way out. They had suffered as a result of stock market crashes which saw many now unemployed and their currency reduced to being worth next to nothing. Once he was in power he made it so that there was almost 100% employment overnight. He reclaimed Czeh, and Poland and in the process of reclaiming Poland, killed 11 million Polish people.
We took a visit to Mauthausen Concentration Camp where there were 2,000 people there normally, half of which died there and the others were worked to death. This was a slavery type camp not an extermination camp, however plenty of exterminating was carried out here.
It is law that all German School children have to attend a concentration camp to see it in the bid to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
The downfall
of Hitler was when he split his armies and lost half of them in Russia during the winter. He was convinced that he lost through internal corruption and thought that his Generals had turned on him so he returned to his bunker and married his girlfriend, they drank champagne then he gave her poision and he shot himself in the head. By the time of his death over 50 million people had died as a result of his armies...
There is no memorial in Berlin at the site of bunker and where he died. It is under a carpark. They said that they didn't want to mark a spot for a pilgrimage.
The steps at the camp that lead down to the quarries where the prisoners worked has about 1000 step steps. If the Nazi's wanted to drop some of the numbers of the slaves they would make them carry heavy boulders up the steps and they would push the front ones down so it would create a ripple effect taking all behind it in it's path.
We arrived at the Concentration Camp site peacefully past cottages and fields of maize. There are gardens out the front
and you see the monuments dedicated to all the nationalities that perished here. We walked down the quarry steps, I can not imagine attempting to carry these boulders back up these stairs. Some in this camp were only being given 5 spoonfuls of food every 3rd day and the workers were given generally half a mug of coffee in the morning, 1/4l of soup made of cabbage and water and at dinner 1/6 loaf of bread and 20g of butter and nothing to drink. Those who ate one spoonful more than allowed were severely beaten or killed. When you walk through the gates you get an uneasy feeling, the prisoners were told that it was the entry and the crematorium was their only way back home...
the blocks from the outside look like it could been a school or something similar but when you walk inside you are shown the stark reality of what went on here. Halls built for 200 prisoners which ended up housing 300-500 at a time. Other building walls are adorned with pictures of those who perished here, looking like they would have on arrival and pictures showing how some looked on their departures. You
can feel nothing but pity, sorrow and horror for the people that lived and died here and maybe more so for those who survive it and have to live with memories everyday...
You feel this for people you never met and who come from Worlds away from your own home and you are left wondering how these atrocities were committed by mankind against mankind....
We saw the incinerators where they cremated people and the cambers where thousands were gassed.... some where disguised as ordinary shower rooms and many didn't know their fate until it was upon them...
We were told how some where made to put masks on and count to 10 and when they passed out they were injected with petrol by large syringe into the rib cage and they were dead within 10 seconds. Others were gassed in the main chambers which took only 10 min but 6-8 hrs to remove the contorted bodies...
There are pictures showing people caught in the barb wire fences, some throwing themselves into it in desperation, others chased by the SS or dogs.
I cant help but wonder why more didn't attempt suicide and wonder if
it's pride, fatigue or hope that stopped them? Hope that at some stage it would all be over? These people endured constant harassment, humiliation, starvation and hard manual labour.
Hitler never saw any of the main torture, he didn't like to see it as he had a weak stomach!! Sometimes the prisoners where used as human carpet and made to lay on the ground so that the SS didn't get their boots dirty when it was muddy.
It's so sad and many weren't able to watch the film, but as disturbing as it is, it's an important part of a very terrible history...
All camps were located outside of Germany as Hitler didn't want them within it.
They used to make the Jews line up on the cliff above the quarry and form a line and they would make the person at the back push forward till the person at the front fell off. If they survived the fall they would drown in the waters below.
Some adult men weighed as little as 28kg whilst 42-48kg was considered to be a healthy weight for the prisoners.
Prisoners that were incapable of working where either
shot 'trying to escape'or beaten to death in the quarry, drowned or tortured to death under cold showers. Hundreds froze to death in the winter in the quarries.
Those with an illness where administered the lethal injection to the heart. Prisoners with diarrhea were clubbed to death, invalids were gassed or given lethal injections also.
A truck was fitted out to travel between Gusen and the crematorium in Mauthausen. Its exhaust fumes were fed into the body of the truck so that the passengers died en route. Other prisoners were drowned in huge water cisterns attached to the laundry, others died as they were forced to bathe outside naked in freezing water, other incapacitated prisoners were murdered with axes and sledge hammers.
Before they were liberated by the Americans some revolted and escaped, many were hunted down and shot or even stabbed. None where to be brought back alive. When the SS retreated and the Americans arrived to liberate the camp in May 1945, they were horrified as to what they found. They buried 1200 the first day and every day after that at a rate of 300 per day.
As we leave the razor wire
fences and chambers behind us, I think that we were all extremely moved by the experience and what we saw and heard and it's something that will stay with me forever I'm sure....
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kim
non-member comment
very sad
Hey Lisa, The story was so moving I thought I was there also they must have suffered terribly thank you for your thoughts.