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Sachsenhausen was built by inmates at nearby Oranienburg in 1936, when the camp there could no longer hold the required number of prisoners. A total of 200,000 prisoners were detained here at some point during the Nazi regime. An estimated 100,000 never left.
Just opposite, metres away from where the prisoners were detained, sits the provocative 'Green Monster Building' where SS officers would go to relax and have a good time after a day's worth of atrocities. Walking into the camp, the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work sets you free) sign is there on the gate, like at Auschwitz.
Prisoners had to assemble for roll call three times a day, standing out in all weathers for up to an hour. During that time, disease could spread very readily and many prisoners would be killed off by the cold.
This is the defence against escaping - there would have been a 'no-man's land' just in front of it, filled with mines. There is no record of a successful escape from Sachsenhausen. A single SS officer could stand on the balcony nearby, armed with a machine gun, and mow down every prisoner in the camp with very little effort.
These barracks would have held 400 prisoners each....
During the day, prisoners went to work in factories (often making bricks) or for electrical firms such as Siemens. Alternatively, they would walk 30 miles a day in a pair of army boots on the terrain shown here, just to make sure the boots were as sturdy as they had to be.
The SS were brutal - in this innocent looking wash room they were known for drowning their prisoners.
Once a year, a Christmas tree was put up in the centre of the camp to give prisoners hope. Unfortunately, this was false hope, as in January the tree was taken down and the wood was used to make a set of gallows, so that the SS could carry out ceremonial hangings.
There was also a 'Special Prison' where the most 'dangerous' political prisoners (such as Martin Niemoller) were detained. They would not have to carry out work like the others but were kept in solitary cells. Here is Niemoller's:
The famous 'Sachsenhausen Salute' would often be performed here by a prisoner of the SS' choice, who would dangle by their arms on this pole and effectively be crucified.
Leaving the 'Special Prison', we see a Soviet Memorial to all of the prisoners killed. It is quite controversial as it features only red triangles: political prisoners had to wear red triangles on their uniform, and these prisoners would have been Communists or Socialists. Many people thought that the Soviets were deliberately neglecting the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and other minority groups in constructing this monument. What do you think?
Although Sachsenhausen was not intended as a death camp, by 1943 prisoners were being gassed in the small chamber in the far corner of this photograph.
This room is a memorial to all the victims at Sachsenhausen, so it was fitting to stop here for a few minutes, listen to an extract from the trial of Anton Kaindl, who ordered the gas chambers to be built, and think about the inhumanity that went on here.
When the Soviets liberated the camp in 1945, this was not the end of the story! A further 60,000 were detained under the Communist government, until the camp closed in 1950. This place is full of human suffering, and a visit makes this suffering far more immediate: standing here makes it much easier to imagine exactly what these people were subjected to.
Hopefully that was a provocative summary of the camp. There are still bits missing - I thought it best not to mention the laboratory and its many uses. Instead, I will talk about our jolly afternoon in the next post - the Olympic stadium, the German Resistance Museum, and the evening walk in the Jewish Quarter.
Bye!
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