The other day, I went with the class to the Sachsenhausen
concentration camp, which is now a memorial for the victims of the holocaust. It
was a haunting experience, in that we were allowed to visit locations in the
camp which housed original instruments of mass murder. It was an especially
immersive experience, in that some of the bunkers that were still standing
contained some of the original beds, washrooms, and lavatories in which many people
died of exhaustion, disease, or were killed by guards, among other causes. An
especially chilling portion of the tour of the camp was when we visited the
remains of the building with the crematoria and death chambers, which in this
particular camp, were used mostly to kill and dispose of the bodies of political
prisoners. Although the building was mostly destroyed by the Soviet Union, the
lack of a completed building does not diminish the immediacy or imposing nature
of what is left, knowing what took place there. Seeing the metal beams standing
in the air and the doors to the ovens of the crematorium was possibly just as
impactful an experience as seeing fully in-tact ovens would have been.
As we were making our way to the “medical” section of the
camp, I noticed that someone from our tour group threw an apple core onto the
ground as a way of disposing of it. That was rather infuriating because it is
basically common sense that one should not litter in a location that is meant
to commemorate the victims of genocide and mass murder. It is very sad to
see that someone representing PLU would not wait for an actual trash
can, and instead dump trash onto the ground of a memorial. The
camp was already a symbolic trash can in that it was used to mistreat and
dispose of human beings in such horrific ways. It did not need to be turned
into a literal trash can.
However, after giving it some more thought, I realized that I probably should have
picked up the trash and held onto it until we got to a trash can. Unfortunately, I was
too grossed out to touch something that had been in someone else’s mouth, and I left it there, not realizing until it was too late, that it had become my responsibility. I get
it now, but really only after looking at this occurrence in hindsight. It is fair to
say that I failed too that day, but in a different way, not necessarily to a
greater or lesser degree.
Front gate to Sachsenhausen concentration camp - the text reads, "Work makes you free."
Remains of Station Z building in which political prisoners were murdered
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