Anyone a history freak too?

[TheFriendlyVEGAN]

My dad was / is a neo-nazi and he tried to raise me as one.  The Holocaust was denied at home and Hitler was referred to as "Uncle Dolf". He had records with speeches of Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and so on, so many books with just one side of the story.

As a child, I obviously didn't question my dad and listened to his stories and flipped through his books.

And then I got curious and read more, in library books. And I learned about the Holocaust. I saw films, documentaries, read first-hand accounts, ... 

My relationship with my father hasn't been the same since. 

 

Two years ago, I visited Berlin. It's only a short train ride from the city to Sachsenhausen. I had read about concentration camps and the Holocaust for so many years, I thought I knew it all.

When I set foot there, I cried. The sheer scale of the thing, both the concentration camp Sachsenhausen (which is small, compared to Auschwitz-Birkenau and others) and of the whole systematic extermination of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, handicapped people, ... 

 

To read about it is one thing; to actually visit it ... holy crap, I cried so hard.

In the following year, whenever I told people that I had visited Sachsenhausen, it still brought tears to my eyes.

It really is insane.
 

 

I'd like to add something controversial, but I'll refrain from that. Most people aren't ready to hear it.

 

 

[Gameplan]

9 minutes ago, Karla said:

As a german student it's pretty common to go to Konzentrationslager Dachau. Still one of the most haunting experiences in my life.

I get it, the DC museum was haunting as well as the USS AZ Memorial in Pearl Harbor. To walk where so many people lost their lives...nothing to say.

 

We were in Munich a few years ago and wanted to visit Dachau, but as you know, there is never enough time to do everything you want while on vacation. We had planned on going back this year, but now Covid19...

[Gameplan]

12 minutes ago, TheFriendlyVEGAN said:

My dad was / is a neo-nazi and he tried to raise me as one.  The Holocaust was denied at home and Hitler was referred to as "Uncle Dolf". He had records with speeches of Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and so on, so many books with just one side of the story.

As a child, I obviously didn't question my dad and listened to his stories and flipped through his books.

And then I got curious and read more, in library books. And I learned about the Holocaust. I saw films, documentaries, read first-hand accounts, ... 

My relationship with my father hasn't been the same since. 

 

Two years ago, I visited Berlin. It's only a short train ride from the city to Sachsenhausen. I had read about concentration camps and the Holocaust for so many years, I thought I knew it all.

When I set foot there, I cried. The sheer scale of the thing, both the concentration camp Sachsenhausen (which is small, compared to Auschwitz-Birkenau and others) and of the whole systematic extermination of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, handicapped people, ... 

 

To read about it is one thing; to actually visit it ... holy crap, I cried so hard.

In the following year, whenever I told people that I had visited Sachsenhausen, it still brought tears to my eyes.

It really is insane.
 

 

I'd like to add something controversial, but I'll refrain from that. Most people aren't ready to hear it.

 

 

Thanks for sharing that story, and great to hear you got educated and made up your own mind.

 

Nothing prepared me for the smell of the shoes. What's weird is I can still smell them and apparently I'm not alone:

 

https://www.vhf.org/shoe-collection-no-other-now-display-us-holocaust-memorial-museum

 

[Xiahou Dun]

16 hours ago, Karla said:

As a german student it's pretty common to go to Konzentrationslager Dachau. Still one of the most haunting experiences in my life.

 

19 hours ago, Gameplan said:

I still watch a lot of WWII documentaries, and it's amazing the stuff that still turns up to this day.

 

Love museums and seeing the history also. Been to many, but the Holocaust Museum in DC was by far the most eye opening. The films and texts don't do justice to walking through, touching and smelling history.

 

 

 

16 hours ago, TheFriendlyVEGAN said:

 

Two years ago, I visited Berlin. It's only a short train ride from the city to Sachsenhausen. I had read about concentration camps and the Holocaust for so many years, I thought I knew it all.

When I set foot there, I cried. The sheer scale of the thing, both the concentration camp Sachsenhausen (which is small, compared to Auschwitz-Birkenau and others) and of the whole systematic extermination of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, handicapped people, ... 

 

To read about it is one thing; to actually visit it ... holy crap, I cried so hard.

In the following year, whenever I told people that I had visited Sachsenhausen, it still brought tears to my eyes.

It really is insane.
 

 

I'd like to add something controversial, but I'll refrain from that. Most people aren't ready to hear it.

 

 

I for one, have been in the WW2 museum in Gdansk. The overall experience was great, but when I stepped into the Holocaust section I was speechless. There is an exhibition of photos and suitcases, each suitcase corresponding to one person that had all his/hers belongings in. Powerful imagery, truly a sight everyone should experience.