Tuesday 8 September 2015

Sachsenhausen....1936 - 1945...


A stop over in Oranienburg, about 25 km North of Berlin, included a visit to the nearby
concentration camp Sachsenhausen.

On a day with plenty of sunshine and warmth this turned into a chilling experience.

Built in 1936 with mainly prison labour from the  nearby smaller Oranienburg camp and run by the German SS this was to be a "model" camp for the  rehabilitation of it's occupiers.

You enter through gates beneath the three story building from where the SS command ran the camp.


But before passing through these gates prisoners were beaten with batons and ridiculed to show the authority of the German Nazi and  SS...

You enter the inner camp and even though there are many visitors about an airy silence descends.

Most of the barracks have been demolished but the foundation for every one, about 70, still remain in the exact place.
More than 200,000 prisoners were kept here and tens of thousands died from starvation, tortue and disease and forced labour...


Looking toward the remaining laundry building. To it's left was a gallows used to execute prisoners in front of their comrades as a deterrent.
At Christmas  the SS had a Christmas tree put up there.

Surrounding the camp the wall was electrified...



For any prisoner who became disillusioned enough to cross the strip.... neutral would be the gear his body selected as he was shot in the back by the SS guards...

A couple of the original barracks stand..


Barrack No,39... toilets.. the prisoners were only allowed to visits a day, once in the morning and again in the evening and they had a maximum time allowed per visit.



The wash room.. large centre basins for upper body and to the right are tubs for washing feet.
If a prisoner exceeded his time limit to wash he was bludgeoned to the floor then a SS guard would use his jack boot to stand on and hold the prisoners head beneath the water in a foot trough until drowned....
Another game the SS played in these rooms was to make prisoners cram into the broom cupboard until several suffocated to their death.
A way of showing the superiority of the Nazi race...

 
The bunks were three high and the overflow of prisoners slept on the floor...

There is still one wing of the prison standing.
It held those punished by the SS for infringements of camp discipline as well as prominent figures arrested by the Gestapo.

 
 


A place of torment and murder.. This cell had a total blackout... only now light enters through rotting  timber over the window..

The foundations f another wing show the cell sizes....


The poles with the steel bars inserted were used to hang prisoners from their wrists and inflict torture...
A guards tower stands on the perimeter wall...

The Execution Trench is still as it was...
To walk down into and to stand at the "Death End" for me was an experience with thought that I had never felt before... To stand where men had fallen to the ground riddled with bullets, taken their last breaths, and blood had flowed and congealed to mixed with the dirt floor....



The walls are lined with logs, timber, to deaden the sounds...

Of course nobody wants to hear the over loud pleas from a conscientious  objector or a man who's only crime was fighting for his countries freedom......



Looking from the plinth from where say a machine gun was mounted and toward the spot where the condemned  stood...



The logs end on behind were bullet catches...After they had torn your heart out....

Any prisoner who walked down into the trench...


Never had a chance to turn and scale this Everest....

Next to the execution trench were the foundations of a building that was used as, supposedly,  a place to go for a medical examination. Once inside the prisoner went through various procedures  until he entered a small cubicle for an examination. Loud music played over interior speakers to add to the atmosphere of well being but it's real purpose was to mask the sound of the rifle shot.
The SS were proud they had mastered what they called the neck shot. A hidden guard beside the cubicle shot the unsuspecting  prisoner from the side  through the neck.

A large area in front of the barracks was for roll call.


A roller sites on the site.. Guard towers are visual on the fence....

It was here one winters day with below zero temperatures that the camp commander made all prisoners stand motionless for the whole day...
As he sat observing in the comfort and warmth of the control building naturally the weakest prisoners succumbed and dropped to the ground.
 Enjoying the pleasure of cigarettes, the nicotine adding toxins to the already overflowing poisons from within, and with  an evil mind, the order to shoot the fallen prisoner through the head was easy to make....

When Germany surrendered the prisoners were sent on what is known as Death marches after the evacuation of the camp. Around 3000 sick prisoners who had been left at the camp, among them doctors and medical assistants, were liberated by soviet and Polish troops on 22 - 23 April 1945...

The camp then became, 1945 - 1950, a camp for prisoners of the Soviet Secret Service.
They imprisoned up to 60,000 people here...



Huts were built to house the prisoners on the outer of the original wall and the camp extended...  Prisoners were not allowed out during the day.... By 1950 12000 had perished.....

Visiting the mortuary was......



Being able to walk freely in and around... touching the tiled Slabs.......the instrument cabinets were empty but real...


Every prisoner who died was meant to have had the dignity of an autopsy and the "Real" cause of death would be noted for next of kin..
The medical personal had a sheet with 6 explanations as cause of death listed and the appropriate one was to be ticked off.
Over run with bodies the staff resorted to making one incision  in the body then stitching it straight up and randomly ticking off a cause of death on the deceased certificate...

It was hard to conceive that......


This room....



This room.....



And here would be stacked full of bodies........

Eight tonne of ashes were dumped in a local canal from the camp ovens.....


Leaving through the gates beneath camp control...... A freedom thousands never new.....

Sunday 26 July 2015

About Copenhagen....


We've had some great free overnight  stops with the M/hme....

This one was at a village named Sittensen  in Germany on our way to Denmark...


Water wheel o the side of a mill building...



Stream heading to the water wheel.. with adjustable flow...



Looking toward the mill.... M/hme park to the left of the building....


In the park surrounding the lake... Town hall, moved to this site several years ago...

Looks like we're driving to..



A Drop Off... Luckily the road continued over the very high bridge...

One day I felt some critter having a bite on my elbow. So without looking I gave it a good Ol, slap and end ing up with black sort of guts on my hand.. Job done...
2 days later....


My elbow began to swell... My left side shoulder & chest were sore... That night whilst asleep their was an explosion and the bed sheets got a liberal coating of Puss, etc...
swelling went down and pain gone... A spider bite??...
 
Excited Germany via the motorway... stayed the night at a free site at the approach to the Storebaeltsbroen TOLL bridge....


On the way over....


 
No turning back now... They've got Ya....35pounds for a M/hme, 7.5mtr, One Way.... 

Stayed in Helsingor, about 35km Nth Copenhagen, with Leonie's cousin Jason who has been a resident for 10 odd yrs so makes for a bloody decent tour guide. His mum Trish was staying as well, being on holiday over from NZ...
Walked up the road 3 -4 hundred metres through wooded area that opens to a sea view...


That's Sweden on the other side....


Sun shining, clear water, time for a weee paddle...

Houses here seem to have Short interior doors so they have a wooden "Jam" across the floor to fill the gap...
Seeing as my elbow had healed I thought I may as well...



Kick the Freak'n "Jam".. at speed... even the Crocs felt uncomfortable for a couple of days...

Down the road is....


Kronborg Slot.. (castle)..Shakespeare based Hamlet on this castle...
Plays are a regular attraction in the castle grounds....






Trish, Jason, Ben, Jasons son... We're viewing a steel edged  map of upper Denmark with towns, laid in the ground....
 
 
Denmarks in the EU but dose'nt use Euro's and everything seems really expensive as there's about 7.5 Kroner to the euro...
 
But the.....
 
 
Ice creams were the best value we've come across.... Ben's got his....
 
 
We've got ours.. topped with cream and raspberry jam....mmmmmm...
 
Jumped on the ferry for a look over Sweden way...
 

The ferry leaves Helsingor.. full power with the bow which is now the stern still up...



Now closed... trip only takes 20 mins....

Only spent a couple of hrs ..... At Helsingborg.....
 

Enjoying the sun & sights...





 

Helsingor, Denmark over the sea...


Town Hall....
 

Back in Helsingor.....the town is very busy as the Swedish catch the ferry across to shop, for beer, spirits, fill the cafes then return....



Quite back streets....


Most pay, some opt out of paying 1% of their tax to which goes to a church fund for.....



A Bloody nice place to be stashed away... or laid  to rest.... Immaculate cemetery....
each plot hedge rowed..
Took a walk through some acres of local forest... many km,s of biking, walking trails....


Jason looking for Truffle's....wrong country....



Leonie &Trish crossing one of several lakes...

Along the trails there were plenty of..


Fresh Raspberries to be had....
Then it was time for a....


Coffee at a café in the forest....

Walked on the beach further North near Gilleleje....



And out on a flimsy looking jetty... their were a couple similar already washed up on the beach...


Return trip....


Back up the 128 steps to the beach... No Sweat for "Super Athlete" Jason.....

On to Copenhagen.....


Around a square.... A lot of construction with new tube stations being built in the centre of town....


town Hall...



Look Up drinking fountain...

After all that running water Jason said "I need relief"..
"Take a look at the public toilets they're cool"...
So I followed as we descended below the pavement level. The resident cleaner was going about his duties so obligingly stood to one side. As I raised the camera to record the scene a customer entered and halted and looked at me like...
"Photographing men Peeing" What the.......Is this a shoot for the "Gay Parade"  mag??..
"It's okay I know him" I said...




Hand polished Brass pipe work, tiles ... a pleasure to visit.....


 
A small café....



The old Opera house on the left...



The new opera house in the rear beside the water... Millions of Krone worth donated by the owner of Maersk... (container, shipping,etc)....




Down on the canal.....


A busy place with tour boats leaving, arriving....



Sailing boats aplenty....

So we boarded a boat for an hour long trip around the canal, central city...



Time to devour cold sausage left overs.....



Nice bridge detail....


Were these an old model container crane?...



Stock Market building..... many a Dark cloud hung over here.....

And then a café...


With it's own sandy beach.... looked like the place to "Be Seen"...

Would make a ....



Awesome batchelor  pad... copper sheathed... centre of town... water view....

The church that promises.......



A Stair way to Heaven....

Well all that walking stuff brings on a thirst....
Here...


And here too... these brass pipes deliver the beers... good fast supply....

Made time to watch.....



Ritchie & the AB,s play SA...



Half time and 10 - 10.... OHHHH Ohhhh....


Full time 27 - 20 ... Kicked their Arses...
Heading to the ferry in Gedser to cross back to Germany to head South for Switzerland, Austria etc... Thanks Jason, excellent tour guide, cook & beer fetcher,  Ben & Trish.... Cheers........