When I was in Germany we went and toured the Sachsenhausen
concentration camp. It is an experience that will stay with me forever. In
eighth grade we spent the entire year learning about the events of the
Holocaust. I thought after spending a year learning about this and then
refreshing our knowledge every year after in high school, I would be prepared
to visit the camp. I was wrong. I knew the events that happened there, but to
stand in the same place that the horrific events occurred at was overwhelming. It
was surreal to be there. I had seen pictures and heard testimonies from
survivors but the camp was not what I expected. The feeling that you get as you
enter the camp is bone chilling. We toured the medical center. It was not a
place of nursing people back to health but a place of experimentation. Then we
walked the grounds and ended up at the sleeping barracks. The museum kept the barracks
the exact way they were years ago. You really got a look into the conditions
that the people were surviving in. I am glad that I had the opportunity to
visit a place of such significance. I believe that if everyone has the
opportunity they should visit a camp. It brings a reality to the stories we
have been told.
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