We went to Mauthausen Concentration Camp today, and oh my god, what a place.
Even though I’ve studied all of Nazi Germany and knew what to expect, it was just something else completely. It was eerie, especially because the weather played its part and there was a fog/cloud that hung around all day… It was so quiet, as soon as we arrived we were all in a somber mood. Even when I cracked a joke, it was-- weird. Like, wrong place for being funny… (Obviously.... but still!)
So we entered in through the first set of gates which was very impressive, and apparently there used to be a massive Third Reich eagle and swastika there, but after liberation they pulled it down…
It was really well maintained, and the SS barracks were really nice, made of stone and had nice wooden doors. Instead of going straight in, there were lots of sculptures, and so we looked at those, and oh my gosh, it took my breath away. And made me cry. Twice…
The sculptures were all in memory of those who’d perished, and each one was from a different country. The French, Ukrainian, Czech, and Hungarian memorials were my favourite as they represented the strength in the face of adversity. They werent too in your face about the fact that their people were murdered; they were more representative of peace and hope, and I liked that.
I was shocked to see that 3,700 Greeks had been killed there, it was so sad and it kind of caught me by suprise. That was one of the things that made me cry…
After we’d finished looking around (and looking down into the quarry, but not actually walking down the “Staircase of Death“) we went inside the camp section… It was so sad, and a contrast to the nice buildings of stone outside. The gate we walked through was the gate every prisoner walked through twice a day to and from the Quarry, and where new inmates were examined and sorted.
We saw the barracks for the prisoners- wooden bunks, and there were pictures on the walls that were so sad- of the most starved people in the world… They had converted the old Laundry building into a memorial hall, with flags and plaques, with 4 large flags against the main wall for France, Russia, Britain and America, who liberated the camp on May 5th, 1945. However, 122,766 people had already been killed in Mauthausen :(
What stunned and really hit me the most was the gas chambers. They really, really did just look like showers. They were tiled, and NORMAL looking!! It was sick. I got shivers all over the camp, but at the gravesite where some bodies had been exumed about 15 years after the war, and in here, was where it was the worst.
There was a room to the right of the actual gas chambers (which were down some stairs, under a building...) where they laid the dead, while they broke out their gold teeth and other things of any value. Then, in the main walkway bit, there was a huge furnace, which actually just looked like an oven (which made me almost gag) where they burnt the bodies. It was disgusting and saddened me, because no matter how much i studied this stuff, it was all on paper. To be here in real life was just so.... I dont even know how to describe it!!!!
Anyway, Sarah, Anna and I went to the exhibition afterwards, which was in English so we could read about the small but significant resistance that came from within Germany, Austria and Poland. It was so nice to see (even though i had read of some before) how some people, even in the face of propaganda, war and death, could see the wrong that was being done, and helped those being persecuted. Many died for helping, but there were two really significant quotes which were amazing-- “We only had two choices: either we accept that we’re also to blame, or we fight against this regime.” The other read, “If I have to die now, I’ll die in peace and tranquility, because I know there is a cause to die for.”
So, all in all, an eye-opening, shocking, emotive and intense day. But I'm glad I went, and it only makes me want to learn more :)
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