Facing History & Ourselves in Europe 2008

Today we visited the Nazi Party Rally Grounds at Nuremburg. We walked along the parade route where Hitler once marched before entering the enormous stadium to address the people of Germany. The Zeppelin Field served as one of the key sites where Hitler persuaded people into believing that what he was fighting for was the right cause. Thousands and thousands of German citizens appeared at the rallies to hear what Hitler had to say. Some people actually camped for weeks in advance for a good seat. People of Germany were hopeless and needed someone to solve their problems. Germany was in a dismal situation after World War I. The Treaty of Versailles blamed the Germans for the war and destroyed their country economically. Hitler promised to make the country great again and to punish the people who punished them. The German people were tricked into thinking that the wrong was right. Of course, Hitler never announced that he wanted to exterminate people, but somehow he managed to brainwash his followers to the point where they’d do anything necessary for the Nazi cause. These rallies played a major role in the conversion of the German citizens. While sitting in the stadium, we were asked to complete a writing assignment. We had to take on the voice of a German person in 1935 and explain why we attended the rally and supported Hitler. Hitler made promises that the people of Germany wanted to hear. They were hopeless and defenseless and he spoke about change and making life better for the German people. We found it surreal to be walking on the same grounds where Hitler and his disciples once marched. We imagined Hitler walking gallantly in his crisp Nazi uniform while thousands and thousands of people cheered and showed their devotion. Although we walked the same route as Hitler, we knew that we were doing it for completely different reasons than him. Our reasons were to acknowledge history, try to understand what humans are capable of, and be more open-minded. Hitler’s reasons were to preach hate, brainwash people, and encourage his followers to be more narrow-minded.

Today, we visited another concentration camp in Poland called Majdanek. This camp was created because of Rinehart Heydrich’s assassination in Prague, which led to the deaths of many Jews in the ghettos as well as the deaths of 1,000 citizens of Prague. Under Heinrich Himmler’s orders, Majdanek opened in the fall of 1941. It was initially a prisoner of war camp used to house Soviet POWs, however, it was eventually turned into a concentration camp. Between April of 1942 and July of 1944, extermination took place in Majdonek using gas chambers and the crematorium. The capacity of the camp was originally meant for about 50, 000 inmates and was referred to as a ‘little Auschwitz” because it contained everything that the larger camp had, but on a much smaller scale. When we arrived at Majdanek, we noticed how closely located the camp was to the city. This made us realize that the people who lived in this area had to know what was going on in the camp. It is impossible for things to go unnoticed if they occur in someone’s backyard. In fact, after the Russians forces liberated this camp, they made the residents of the town come in to bury the dead bodies. Once again, it became clear that reading about the Holocaust in class is completely different than being physically present in a concentration camp. Standing in Dachau, Auschwitz, or Majdonek is a much more emotional learning experience.