Arbeit macht frei

Arbeit macht frei - "work makes (you) free"

This phrase was on the entrance to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, or know today as a Memorial and Museum.

For us it does not hold much significance in our daily lives, but for the 30,000 people who lost their lives there it was in fact their only hope of being free. We learnt that each day they would walk through this archway passing the gate reading Arbeit macht frei. I can only imagine the hope they had going to forced labour each morning, with no prospect of leaving or even living.

These tourists would have been shot for crossing into the gravel,

Prisoners washroom, guards were know to drown prisoners here, if they tried to wash their feet.

Prison block inside the prison camp

Actual clothing worn by prisoners, all year round.

  Sachsenhausen was set up on the edge of Oranienburg just north of Berlin. Our tour started in Berlin and after a local U-Bahn train and then a DB we were in the town.  Exiting the train station we followed the exact same path the prisoners would have, just under two kilometers. Now this path is a road, has footpaths and residences all the way. The camp has now been surrounded by the town of Oranienburg.

Oranienburg

Tour Guide - Johnny

Our guide Johnny covered many aspects of Sachsenhausen, however we didn't find the location as moving as we expected. There were a number of recreated buildings on site and all have been setup with museums and also how they were during the war.
The blocks were originally built to hold around 150 people, however this was quickly exceeded to well over 400 ber block. Our guide provided much information, however we felt it would have been better to have walked at our own pace and rented an audio guide. This would have allowed more time in the museums to learn in depth about the site and also read personal life stories of the captors and the prisoners.

The evening was finished off with dinner in the revolving restaurant at 207 meters up top the Fernsehturm or Berlin Television Tower.
Thankfully we purchased the VIP fast track ticket skipping all the queues and also getting a table with a window view.  The meal was very nice we were very impressed and the view was great too.

Tomorrow - 3D