BELSEN
When we moved from Sennelager to Bunde. I had to make new friends, and one kept asking us if we would visit Belsen with her , and her family.
We all decided to go one nice sunny day, when we got there we looked at all the photographs on show, and it was really awful to see what had gone on.It really brought things about war home to you.
Once we went to walk around the grounds, a drizzle started to fall, there were signs not to stray from the paths as you could be disturbing someone’s rest,There were huge mounds saying around 30,000 bodies lay here and some held even more.
We walked until we reach the memorial wall for all of these poor unfortunate people, I stopped there as I did not want to go near any gas chambers . They are however concereted up now.
Bones were still being found in the farm grounds that was next to Belsen.
We noticed that nothing grew in that place although there were trees all around the outside, also no birds flew over there.
We slowly made our way out with the drizzle still falling.
As soon as we got outside it was a beautiful sunny day again.
I found the place very eerie, I would never visit another of these camps again.
I think I saw enough, there.
Tania
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A really touching story – my brother now deceased saw it at the end of the War – Pray nothing like it ever happens again!
I truly hope so, drummer,Thank you.
Hi Tania I can well imagine the atmosphere that you would have felt and you most certainly wouldn’t have wanted to visit again…….when my grandson was on his travels he went to the fields of Cambodia, he said you could still see pieces of rags and bones emerging through the soil if there had been rain …he also saw the killing tree, he never took any pics of the fields and the tree out of respect for the dead…..
Hi Starlette, I would never have taken any photographs of the place, I do not think it is allowed, not really sure about that, But I could not even think of doing that.
the hardest thing to write about is what one human being can do to another
my mind cannot comprehend that level of evil
I shed tears for what has been and I cry for what has yet to come
we learn lessons then we forget
and when the clouds of fear are overhead
the rain of terror begins
deaks, I cannot comprehend that kind of evil, that these poor people suffered.They did nothing wrong. I agree people soon forget what has gone before.
Tania, I wish everyone could visit such a place and then, just perhaps such horror would not happen again but even as I write this I know it would not prevent it. Indeed we have seen such horrors repeated since . Pol Pot in Cambodia and lots of examples of the very worst that the human-animal can sink to, just about across the planet. Even in the parts of the world that did witness the horrors of the second world war, we have groups of people who deny it ever happened. In many countries there are people who seem to have a reflex hatred of Jewish people. We have some in Canada mainly in Quebec it seems. There are the ultra Right groups in Canada and the USA. They are also in Europe and look at the trouble the Labour Party seems to be having with members who hate Jews. It appears all too often, that people forever look for someone to blame for their disappointments, their failures, their fears. So people like you who go and face where these terrible Things were done are doing a great service in helping people to remember the darkness. Thanks for telling us about it and what you felt there.
Thank you, Rockflower,I do not understand the hatred some people have for others. I probably never will. I doubt that it will not happen again….I just wish that it would not.
Trying to comment here, I find that I am mute. My grandfather was placed in a concentration lager, while he, as Dorf ( Town ) policeman he was ordered to arrest and detain suspected dissidents for the german army. he steadfastly refused and he too was arrested and placed in a Concentration Camp, where he was beaten, burned starved as a result.
My Grandmother told me years later of the scars that he had on his body for holding true to his beliefs and morals. That he survived from 1942 to 1945 is a wonder to me. I do remember that he was a very big man when he was taken but my grandmother told me he was only half as large when he had returned.
I had often asked my Grandmother how it could be that people just ignored what was happening at the time, and she would cry. She told me that the people knew very well what was happening, yet refused to accept it as the truth out of fear.
I sit even today, reading the news, listening to the radio, and see that lessons lived in those horror-filled years have not been learned. It breaks my heart and hurts my soul, that our world allows such things to happen in 2019.
I truly am at a loss…
Sorry to hear about your Grandfather, happysailor1, I would have thought that lessons could have been learnt from what happened here , and in other concentration camps,sadly I am like you, these things will happen. I knew about these camps, but to visit one was a totally different matter. Take care…Thank you
So sorry your Grandfather was a victim and we do know there were many German victims, victimized for holding strong to morals, justice, and decency. I do admire that the Germany nation has faced up to the madness and horror that gained control of them, Germany has not tried to hide it but preserved evidence of it. No doubt hoping that people would remember and make sure that it would never happen again. Like you, I watch the news and see what is going on, certainly in our Western world. It seems to me the old pattern is being repeated. First we have politicians telling people that others are using them, taking advantage of their charity, taking their jobs, their land, their wealth. These politicians sound fairly reasonable to start with, then they make laws to exclude others who are different. Then they want to control women especially their sexuality and fertility. Then the governments seek to build up weapons and armies, to protect us they say. Next anyone who does not totally agree with them and obay is a deviant, then they are the enemy within and have to be punished. It seems this pattern is as old as man. I watch the news and quake, I think we are all in a perilous state world wide. We all need to pull together to save our beautiful planet and we cannot do this if we are all fighting each other.
I’m afraid an old quote holds true that “if there is any sound that follows the march of humanity it is the scream”.
We’ve been doing this sort of thing to each other for centuries. First it was holy war (crusades etc) then it was the final solution (Nazis) then various ethnic cleansings of recent times.
Seems the only thing that humans have been able to learn and hold firm to over the centuries is hate.
I can’t see them learning anything new any time soon.
Thank you, Waylander,, I cannot see much changing these days. I do not understand why there is so much Hate. It beggars belief to me.
I do agree Rockflower, the politicals have succeeded in turning the focus of society. But the sad reality is that these persons/groups were/are elected-chosen by society itself. That those persons in power use deceit is not new, history has shown this time and time again. Promises are made to gain trust and support and are focused on what society desires. The most important goal seems to be being the richest, the best, the most loved the list is endless. To obtain these things individuals are willing to set aside their most basic teachings from parents and family, community, religion or personal beliefs. And this trend is slowly becoming the norm instead of the exception. Like my Grandfather, I too will stand for what I believe is right and just. It was ingrained into me at a very young age, that the family unit is the strongest when all pull the wagon together. That work should be shared among all that chose to live together. That a person`s word is binding. that each and every person assumes responsibility for his own actions. The key here is choice. You can choose right over wrong, good over bad, and must live with these choices. But then to one must also realize that these same choices can and usually do affect others, right or wrong, good or bad.
In closing here I would like to say that the law of physics states ” An object set in motion, stays in motion until acted upon by an equal or opposite force…” We are sailing ahead at full speed, gaining momentum towards the mother of all storms. and the rudder of our ship is broken. the majority of the crew stands on the gunwale and stare at the dark dangerous weather and worry, each wondering if he or she will live to tell the tale to survive.
The question now in my mind is will this ship be able to survive, or are we destined to sink. I personally, choose to try and fix the rudder and maybe save the crew with my last strength. Will this be enough? I do not know, but at least, true to my nature, I will have tried….
Can you all reply on the persons blog please….thank you