I'm in fact in Berlin now, and have had good visits to the murdered Jews memorial and the topography of terror.
I was planning to go Terezin when I head to Prague but also realized sachsenhausen isn't far from here. I know they're both quite different but it's not so crucial which type, rather than at least visiting one.
If I had to choose one cos of time, which would you guys suggest?
Thanks!
There is also Ravensbruck located near Berlin, which I think has excellent exhibits, though Sachsenhausen has well done exhibits too.
Ravensbruck was for women, so it does have a different feel to it and the women that were there were mainly Jehovah Witnesses, Communists, Socialists, Prostitutes, Roma & Sinti, and Polish slave laborers. Siemens built a factory near here to exploit the cheap labor. Medical experiments on the women were common. All of it heartbreaking.
http://www.ravensbrueck.de/mgr/index.html
I have been to Sachsenhausen 3 times, Ravensbruck and Bergen Belson twice and Dachau once. Have not made it to Terezin though.
hann,
As you're in Berlin now, a visit to Sachsnehausen would be a good idea as it's unique in some ways. You could either do that on your own or take a day tour with Original Berlin Walks. I've found that having a guide to explain the history and answer any questions provides a much more interesting experience.
Terezin is very different from other concentration camps. It was originally a fortress town and garrison and was only used as a concentration camp shortly before and during WWII.There is a whole load of history of the site apart from this period.
It is a huge area and you really need a minimum of 4 hours to see the basics. Certainly worth visiting and easy to do so on your own from Prague
One of the best books on the Holocaust - W.G. Sebald's »Austerlitz« - has its intense end in Terezin, which for this period is better known as Theresienstadt. It's high on my list of places which one day have to be visited.
Haven't been to Terezin or Ravensbruck, but I spent most of a day at Sachsenhausen. All of the memorials are somewhat different. Sachsenhausen has lots of material about "medical research" on prisoners.
As Unclegus says Terezin is very different from other concentration camp. It was not a death camp. It was a showcase for Red Cross, meaning they allowed Red Cross to check the camp.
Some of the unique aspects of Sachsenhausen which I found interesting.....
Someone mentioned extermination camp or death camp. The 6 Jewish extermination camps were all in what is now modern day Poland. There was one just off the A2 motorway that connects Berlin and Warsaw near Chełmno nad Nerem with the camp usually referred to as just Chełmno. People here were immediately gassed on arrival so no camp sights like barracks. But there are many memorials onsite.
Although it's all horrible, the concentration camps people tour in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic were not the "main event" sites of the Holocaust.
I would like to add to Tom's post. While many camps were operated as "work camps" or "concentration camps", survival and release was not an expectation. For example, Mauthausen was not a camp where people were immediately murdered upon arrival, but the labor was so difficult that no one was expected to survive, and as I recall it had one of the highest death rates (based on length of imprisonment) of many of the camps.
Even at camps where people were expected to work, there were "selections" and those not fit for work were murdered. To me, that's a death camp.
Historically, unclegus is correct. Theresienstadt had a long history prior to its history in the horrors of WW2, was built to serve as a garrison fortress named after you know who. It was also the place where the assassin of Franz Ferdinand was held before and after his trial and where he died. He was already dying of TB on that "fateful day" at Sarajevo. There is a plaque at Terezin mentioning him.
