Sachsenhausen Work Camp.

Tuesday, June 26.

In the morning we had class, and our first critique in Urban and Public Art.  I feel way more motivated and inspired after critique and I’ve been working on ideas for my new direction with my photos.

Later we left for Sachsenhausen work camp, about an hour outside of Berlin.  I was not very eager to go to this work camp, because I don’t deal well with sad things (I cry when I watch the news sometimes).  The camp was so much more than I expected.  As soon as we stepped inside, the desolate landscape was imminent.  I could see how so many would give up home living in a place like this.  There were multiple museums within the camp, hosting artifacts from the history of the camp.

The entrance to the camp, “Work will make you free.”

The first place we looked at was the barracks, where all the prisoners lived when they weren’t working.  The beds were tiny, as were the wash rooms and bath rooms.  The text was simple, stating the horrors that occurred in each room, mostly letting the haunting space speak for itself.  There were not many words necessary for these places.

At the other end of the barracks was a museum with more artifacts.  There were a few pieces that stuck out to me.

1. A series of five paintings by a girl whose father was taken away to Sachsenhausen.  They move from the father leaving to the father most fortunately being reunited with his family.

2. A series of self-portraits by prisoners who worked in the counterfeiting stations due to their artistic skill.  These workers purposefully slowed labor in order to avoid producing the counterfeit US dollars that the Nazis wanted them to.

3. Stories and photographs from specific individuals who were imprisoned at Sachsenhausen that went from their birth to their death, sometimes long after they escaped the work camp.  This gave the museum a really personal feel, connecting the viewer to individual people who are very similar to themselves.

4. A unique “guest book” type element which allowed visitors to write about the museum and memorial, but stick the pieces of paper in clear boxes so that the public could read it as well.  This created a mini memorial within the museum, which completely fit with the mission of the monument.

                                                                                                     

Next we visited the prison where people were taken to be tortured and murdered when they got in trouble.  It had the similar layout of mixing museum like exhibits and artifacts with memorial like cell blocks.  In the memorial area, the cells were decorated with images or names of prisoners, along with flowers or cards that I expect were left behind by visitors.

Our last location was Station Z, the end of the road for anyone who entered.  Here was where thousands were mass executed by gunshot or by gas chamber.  This place was hard to handle, hard to believe that people could actually do this to other humans.

Overall, Sachsenhausen was an interesting mix between memorial and museum.  I thought that many of the small details made the horror seem more personal and individualized.  This trip definitely left the group more somber and contemplative, but I think it was a good thing to experience first hand.