A Look Inside Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
A brief history of Sachsenhausen
Just outside Berlin is the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial. The site's history as a concentration camp under both Nazi and Soviet rule makes it a serious and controversial tourist site to visit. As a gay backpacker, I was particularly interested to visit Sachsenhausen because many gay and homosexual victims of the holocaust were either interned or executed at Sachsenhausen.
Under Nazi Germany, the concentration camp was originally a work camp for political prisoners—especially because of its proximity to Berlin. As the camp grew, it eventually included facilities for mass murder. Even after WWII, Sachsenhausen was briefly used by the Soviets to house Nazi prisoners of war where many died.
Visiting Sachsenhausen
The Soviets originally erected a monument to those that had lived and died at Sachsenhausen concentration camp at the end of the 1950s. After Germany's reunification in 1991, the site expanded with more museums and research facilities. Today, the site is a chilling memorial to the prisoners who lived and died there—many of them homosexual victims of the holocaust. This was due to Sachsenhausen's proximity to Berlin which had beenga a fairly liberal and open society in the 1920s.
If you want to visit, Sachsenhausen is free and open to the public, with an impressive collection of exhibits and an exhaustive audio guide. Alternatively, guided tours are run by many of the tourist companies in Berlin: Insider’s Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial Tour.
About Adam
Adam is a graphic designer and writes a hipster travel blog about his travels around the world.
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