Mijn Avontuur in Oranje Land: A Somber Start to Berlin

When planning our Berlin trip, Olivia and I knew we wanted to see the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Our flight was set to arrive at 8am, so we decided going there first thing would be easiest since we were already nearby.

The misty and overcast skies set the day for the trip. Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was built in 1936. At first, the Nazi regime mostly imprisoned its political opponents. Soon, they were joined in ever-increasing numbers by members of groups defined by National Socialist ideology as racially or biologically inferior. The camp housed more than 200,000 people between 1936 and 1945.

In 1945, three months after the end of the war, the Soviet Secret Service took over the camp, using it for similar purposes but for Nazi functionaries or questionable political members. By the time the camp was closed in 1950, more than 60,000 people had been prisoned in what became the largest special camp in the Soviet occupation zone.

The camp was deeply moving. I highly recommend the audio tour for 3 euros. It provided in depth descriptions of buildings, monuments, and the layout of the camp, along with some personal accounts. It was a very emotional start to our trip but everyone should tour this camp.

Here are a few pictures from the camp. (If you don't know this yet, you can click on the images to make them bigger.)