The ship docked in Warnemunde along the northern coast of Germany. Today we had booked a tour with the cruise ship, so we had an early breakfast and then all the tour groups were herded in an organized manner to the train station, where we caught a two and a half hour train through the countryside of what used to be East Germany. Fortunately, everyone in our car decided to nap at the same time.
We arrived in Oranienburg where the Sachsenhausen Memorial Camp is located. Built in 1936, this was one of the first concentration camps built by the Nazis, and was the largest one in Germany. We were not aware that there had been a concentration camp so close to Berlin. Our tour leader Eva spoke impeccable English and we all wore "whisper" headsets so we could hear everything she said.
The camp was built to house 10,000 people. It had a main observation tower and all the barracks radiated from it like spokes of a wheel. There were several other observation towers and a "neutral zone" where prisoners would be shot without question. There is a story of a guard who threw a prisoner's hat into the neutral zone and told him to go get it, and shot the prisoner when he obeyed.
Over 200,000 people passed through this camp between 1936 and 1945. Hitler began by imprisoning any political dissenters or highly intellectual people who had the potential to become dissenters. Also imprisoned here were disabled people, the insane, homosexuals, criminals, or those likely to become criminals. Basically, those who were unwanted in his society. Also, Jehovahs Witnesses were brought here because they refused to work in the war industry. In 1938, 6000 Jews were brought here in one fell swoop. Throughout its use, 100,000 Jews were brought here.
All the prisoners were forced to work, making bricks for buildings in Berlin. This camp was also the site of one of the largest counterfeiting operations during WWII. The inmates were forced to forge American and British currency. The forgeries were so good that the British were forced to change their currency after the war.
About 40,000 people died at this camp, from exhaustion, disease, and especially malnutrition. They were fed about 900 calories a day but required to work 12 hours a day. For example, the shoe testing track still exists, where prisoners were required to walk or run for hours to test shoes.
We were shown through a barracks. Each barrack had beds enough for 100 prisoners but often housed 400. There were 8 toilets and one hour allocated for their use in the morning and one hour in the evening. There was a gallows in the center of the camp, and we saw the wall where prisoners were lined up and shot. The ovens could cremate about 400 corpses a day.
In March of 1935, just before liberation, there was a Death March. We don't know the purpose of it, perhaps to relocate the prisoners? About 35,000 prisoners took part, only 3000 remained behind because they were too sick. Many did not survive the Death March.
After the war ended, Stalin took over the camp from 1945-1950. About 12,000 more prisoners died during this time, most of whom starved. It's hard to believe something like that could have happened so recently. Now the camp is a memorial.
After our 2 hour sobering visit to the concentration camp, our group was taken to a fancy hotel where we were given a traditional, family-style German lunch. Pretty good, although Frankie didn't necessarily believe that the sausages were gluten-free despite the waiters' assurances.
After lunch Eva took us on a walking tour of several significant locations in downtown Berlin, starting with the Reichstag, seat of German parliament. We walked through the Brandenberg Gate; constructed in 1791, it was one of 17 city gates. It was built as a symbol of peace but was used by Napolean in 1806 to signify triumph when he took the city. Hitler also used it to signify his power when he marched through with his troops and party members.
After WWII, East and West Germany were created in 1949 when they found that their political ideologies were opposing. The Brandenberg Gate became a symbol of the division between East and West Germany. In 1987, Reagan came to the Gate and gave his famous speech telling Gorbachev to "tear down these walls".
While we were at the Brandenberg Gate, some foolish young teens nearby began chanting nazi themes. Our guide Eva stopped in horror and said those boys could be arrested.
Our next stop was the amazing Holocaust Memorial, built by the Germans to commemorate their own victims. The Memorial is simply 2711 stones which are laid out geometrically and take up 205,000 sq feet. At the perimeter it seems that the stones are all the same height, but as you walk into them they get taller and taller. The Memorial was built next to the bunker where Hitler committed suicide. The bunker was destroyed 3 times before it finally took.
Our next stop was at a section of the Berlin Wall that still stands. The Berlin Wall was erected to separate East and West Germany. The Wall ran right through the center of Berlin. The wall stood for 28 years and was torn down in 1989. One of Frankie's friends from university, a German exchange student, mailed her a piece of the wall when it came down. You can tell where it ran because there is a line of paving stones that is different from existing road or sidewalk. The section that still remains was different than we expected. It was not very thick, and only 13 ft tall. But effective.
Our last stop of the day was called Checkpoint Charlie. This was one of only 3 places where a crossing between East and West Germany could occur, and it was manned by American soldiers. Now it's just a kitschy tourist stop, with nearby shops with names like "Checkpoint Curry".
We drove through the Jewish section of town where the museums are guarded because of threats from the Arabic world. Then the train ride back to our boat. As we got off the train, we could hear the ship's horn blasting to tell everyone to hurry up. Occasionally the blast would change to a cat call, very funny.
From our balcony, we watched the ship pull out of port at 9 pm. There was a beautiful sunset over the bavarian town, and music playing from the docks to see us off. We got a special treat because we passed dozens upon dozens of tall ships coming into the town in single file. The ports were lined with people waving us off and greeting the tall ships. Amazing.
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