This past weekend I took a trip with my Holocaust and Genocide class to Hamburg, Germany. As a Jewish woman, I've always been interested in learning more about the Holocaust and I figured taking a class while abroad would be one of the best ways to do it. Before the trip, DIS sent us a detailed agenda for the two day trip to Hamburg. The main event on the agenda was a trip to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. I had never been to a concentration camp, so I was particularly interested in seeing this. Day 1: Saturday February 18th Our trip to Hamburg started early. We met at the bus at 8:45 near DIS (which is a 30 minute commute for me). Once we got on the bus I immediately fell asleep and woke up when we got to the ferry. Taking the ferry was really cool, and it was much bigger than other ferries I have been on. We weren't on the ferry very long until we got to Germany. We were on the bus for about two more hours until we reached our first stop, the Bullenhuser Damm School. In April of 1945, twenty Jewish children, their four adult caretakers and six Russian POW's were killed at this location. These children had participated in medical experiments at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp and were taken to the school to be killed. This visit was incredibly sad to see and hard to listen to the stories at times. We visited the Rose Garden which serves as a memorial to the 2o children and 4 adult caretakers who were killed. We also went into the museum located partially in the basement where the murders occurred. While it was not easy to read more about what happened, I found it to be a valuable use of our time to see this site. Our next stop was the Hostel where we checked in and had time to rest before our group dinner at, Hamborger Veermaster. We had a traditional German meal consisting of mostly meat and a beer of course. I enjoy trying new things so I liked the meal a lot. It was nice to get to know my classmates better and our professor Torben. After dinner we split up and my friends and I walked around, stopped in a souvenir shop and headed back to the hostel. Day 2: Sunday February 19th
Our second (and last) day started with breakfast at the hostel. Our first stop was Nicolai Kirche, which was originally a church but now serves as a memorial to the destruction and deaths of WWII. Hamburg was heavily bombed in 1943, which killed over 46,000 Germans and took out most of the city. This building was one of the only things that was still standing after the bombings. Torben educated us on the area and the various parts of the memorial, then we took the glass elevator up to the viewing tower. This church tower is the 5th highest one in the world! Unfortunately there was a lot of scaffolding so we couldn't see much but we learned a lot about Hamburg and the war while we were there. Then we headed to brunch but before that Torben showed us his favorite Holocaust memorial, stumble stones. Stumble stones are stones in the ground outside of apartments or houses where people killed in the Holocaust once lived. They include their name, birth year, and information about where they were deported to and killed. These stones are very powerful because they may be small but they are powerful reminders to never forget what happened during the Holocaust. Our last stop on our trip was the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. We walked around most of the camp and then visited the two museums on site. This visit was by no means easy, hearing about what the SS did to the prisoners was heartbreaking and we were standing on the very grounds where it happened. My professor Torben told us that this was not a camp for Jews which was shocking to me because I thought all concentration camps were for Jews. This camp had mostly Soviets, Poles and Germans, and any Jews in the camp were shipped out in 1942 to Auschwitz. While walking around Torben showed us where the wooden barracks were, the crematorium, the bunker, where the bricks were built on the camp, and the railroad where prisoners were brought in. I found this visit extremely important. Hearing stories and reading about the Holocaust certainly gives you an idea of what it was like, but actually seeing the camp gave me an entirely new perspective. After a long visit at Neuengamme we headed to the bus to make our way back to Copenhagen. This trip made me take a step back and realize that studying abroad has so many benefits and being able to learn more about history in the place where it actually occurred is one of those benefits. While I have enjoyed the traveling I've done on my own, I also am very thankful that I'm on a program that offers such incredible experiences.
1 Comment
Edith Ries
2/20/2017 07:56:05 pm
Dear Annie, These blogs are very well written and extremely interesting. It sounds like you are very, very busy with school and travel. I am following you around Copenhagen and enjoying the walks and the train rides. Back in 1957 I drove with my German sister, Margaret, from Soest to Hamburg for the weekend. We went to Hamburg in order to pick up a car that a couple had rented from her father (Herr Siedler own a Ford car agency). We stayed with the couple (Germans who lived in South America and were on there way back) and had a wonderful weekend. We went out to the Rapebahn one evening, spent the day walking around the city. I remember a lovely park with a beautiful lake with beautiful sailboats and families together enjoying the day. I thought it was a beautiful city and always wanted to go back. I also remember the port where we went to say good-bye to the friends who were going back to South America (via ship). Hamburg was a very important city during WWII and that was the reason that it was bombed so heavily. Your visit brought back some memories for me.
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AuthorHi! My name is Annie and I am studying abroad for four months in Copenhagen, Denmark!
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