here on the website over a week ago. linz was the second day of our austria trip, and we left the town on the third day, which was friday, sept. 14th. the last photo i posted was from the bike trail heading from linz to enns.<\/p>\n
we biked through a couple of little towns which weren\u2019t really quaint or old-looking, and we were headed for the mauthausen concentration camp before spending the night in the little town of enns.<\/p>\n
i knew that seeing the camp would be horrible, but the experience was different than i\u2019d imagined it to be. for one thing, in my mind i expected it to look old and creepy, dark and damp and dirty.<\/p>\n
the day was brightly sunny, and we had to climb an incredibly steep hill to get there. the guide book claimed it was a 14% grade, which is very very steep. here\u2019s the view from near the top of the climb – we had to walk our bikes the last part of it. here\u2019s the view back down the hill from whence we came.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
we could see the camp in the distance, and it gave me chills.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
here\u2019s the view of the lovely countryside from the top of the hill. it made the whole experience even that more bizarre, the fact that it was set in such a lovely place.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
we got to the parking lot which was full of cars and tour buses. we walked to the visitor\u2019s center, a sever-looking grey building, and got instructions for going into the camp. we could get audio headsets if we wanted them.<\/p>\n
the camp is so sterilized now. nothing rotting or decaying. as a matter fact, they\u2019re raising millions of dollars to help restore it, because some of the buildings were damaged by storms. lots of the buildings had been torn down, and the place is all paved now. the effect made it feel like a museum-like representation of the place.<\/p>\n
the horror became clear as we listened to our headsets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
they gave us a map of the place, and we listened to a piece about each place we stopped. each segment must have been about five minutes long, and there must have been 20 or so segments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
each description was absolutely horrible. detail upon detail about the atrocities committed right here in this place we were standing. it looked so sterile and clean, bright and sunny – but there was the “wailing wall,” with the metal rings embedded in it, where people were chained, naked, sometimes for days, when they were first brought to the camp.<\/p>\n
horrible, it was all so unbelievably horrible. i couldn\u2019t help but cry, and so there we were, shuffling around with these headsets glued to our ears, listening to one awful story after another. i had thought we\u2019d listen to all of them, but we realized we just couldn\u2019t – it was simply too unbearable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
even though there had been so many cars in the lot, we didn\u2019t see a huge amount of other people inside. many of them didn\u2019t have headsets, and i can\u2019t imagine going there and not listening.<\/p>\n
the gas chamber – this was absolutely the worst.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
i realize my words and these pictures can in no way even begin to describe the impact that this place had on us. the thing is, we\u2019ve all seen movies, pictures, stories of the nazis and their atrocities, but being right there in one of these places is an entirely different thing. it was so horrible to see, and i think that everybody needs to witness one of these camps for themselves, in order to more completely understand and feel it.<\/p>\n
when we left, there were all kinds of memorials outside.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
whew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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