We got home super late last night and thus brought only our toothbrushes and such to the apartment room George rented for us. Today we had planned to drive the remaining three hours home to Stuttgart after seeing the rest of Buchenwald, since we missed some exhibits due to its closing.
I brushed my hair in a feeble attempt to look socially acceptable, what with no shower and not a whole lot of sleep. There comes a point when the efforts that are made to look decent are comparable to putting lipstick on a pig- it just ain't happening.
The excitement for the morning came when Embla got locked inside a room in the apartment complex that she entered thinking it was the bathroom. The landlord came down and tried to open it using his key, but the key broke off in the lock, which was not exactly very reassuring. Finally, the tenant down the hall coached Embla on how to open the door by jiggling the handle a certain way. With the insider information he possessed, one would assume this situation happened before.
On our way to Buchenwald, we noticed the memorial to the forced death march which was down the mountain, practically in someone's back yard. The SS got antsy as the Allied advance approached and as such, they opted to exterminate some of their inmates via marching until they collapsed of exhaustion. This memorial was to the 13,000 people were forced to march in April 1945.
It is worth noting that Bonhoeffer was secretly moved to Buchenwald in February of 1944, shortly before he was taken to Flossenburg and was there executed due to his involvement in the Confessing Church and other organizations that opposed the Nazis. It is tragic that he died a mere three weeks before the Allies liberated Europe. There is a memorial in his honor at Buchenwald.
It is an unique experience in and of itself visiting Buchenwald as an American. Not only did the U.S. Army liberate the camp of 21,000 still living in April of 1945, but their compassionate care and use of the old SS living quarters as medical care facilities allowed the eight to nine thousand inmates in need of immediate medical intervention to be cared for adequately. When you hear the praises of the U.S. Army loudly declared and their compassion and care for the inmates of Buchenwald, it definitely makes you extra proud to be an American.
I was also reminded of the fact that the U.S army ordered that the people in the nearby town of Weimar must be marched through the camp so they could witness for themselves the horror that had been going on at this nearby hilltop, near their town. In my opinion, that is something that needed to happen, for them to see the camp for themselves, to view what they had either willfully ignored or were ignorant of. I also realized that yesterday was D-Day, and as such, I can say I was on European soil for the anniversary this year.
We went our separate ways and planned to meet back at the car at noon. It was a chilly morning as I walked along the Waldweg, the path that leads through the forest and to the old SS barracks, Camp commander's quarters, ash pit and quarry.
Again, the surroundings were beautiful.
{road to ash pit}
The quarry site, where the inmates worked in all weather and under inhuman conditions, was on my walk back to the museum. Ironically, the location and setting was idyllic, with a lovely view of the green patchwork countryside dotted with red roofs and soaring church towers.
Imagine walking to work every day on this same road, starving and barefoot, seeing this beautiful view that taunts you with the freedom that lies beyond the wire, a freedom you wonder if you will ever be able to taste again.
That was then....
There is a memorial plaque to Bonhoeffer who, along with two other "conspirators," spent some of the final weeks of their life living in the basement of the SS barrack ruins pictured above.
The white monument and bell tower we visited is visible for many miles away and sits atop a ride overlooking the final resting place of the thousands that were discovered at Buchenwald upon its liberation.
There is also a collection of statues depicting a group of prisoner's reactions upon seeing their liberators.
Back at the museum, there was a section that showed pictures of the personal lives of the SS. Here they are enjoying some winter fun:
The captions with the photos were very informative, and showed just how deep and how sinister the Nazi Propaganda affected its members.
For example, an SS officer wished to get married and start a family, his fiancée must send three pictures, two pictures of her face and a full body shot, to the "powers that be" (aka Heinrich Himmler.) Why? To make sure she "looked the part" as the wife of an SS officer and would be fit to produce Aryan children.
In this collection of photos, you can see SS-Oberscharfuhrer Anton Bergmeier. In the middle are the three photos of the girl he loved, his fiancée.
The photos were sent, and though the young lady in question was indeed German, the verdict was that she was "too ostisch" (too Eastern-looking, not Aryan enough) to be married to or associated with an SS officer."
The second set of photos were of his second choice, a young lady who was approved of by the SS higher-ups and the one who Bergmeier would marry.
I am fairly certain that I had smoke coming out of my ears after I saw this section of the gallery, and I hope that my disgust was not visibly perceivable to the other museum attendees. But then again, why should I care if it was?
What was going through my mind was this: what kind of person or organization makes any kind of judgement, no matter the gravity, based on how another was made or how another looks, which is one of the most subjective of all measurements in the world?
What sort of person punishes another because of ethnicity, a factor that, above all others, cannot be changed or altered in any respect?
"But wait!" you might say, "some things you can change about yourself, especially today." Yes, if you want pink hair and red eyes, there is a way to get that, thanks to hair dye and color contacts. But, it still doesn't change who you are. The bone structure of your frame, of your face. Your genes. Your DNA.
You can't change where you were born, to whom you were born, or the main physical aspects you have been made (*created) with. Attacking something that cannot be changed in a person only leads to one solution for those unfortunate enough to fall into the wrong category: the "Final Solution" that Hitler and his men determined was necessary.
{Polish "conspirator," photo taken shortly before he was hung as an "example."}
I suppose this is where the cruelty of the Nazi agenda shows itself the strongest, in the form of this virulent racism.
{photos of the high ranking SS officers of Buchenwald, click to zoom}
It is so evident to see, when you observe the level of depravity that went on in the ranks of the SS and beyond.
I think it is safe to say that anytime we deem an individual- irrespective of size-who is a living, breathing, created human in God's image and for his glory.....
.....anytime we begin to classify this person as "not human" or "not worthy of living" or to be defective to us in some way, shape or form,
.....we have veered off the path, where we play "sovereign," and we decide who will live, and who will die. Who will live life free, without persecution, and who will live a life scarred by hate and earmarked with scorn.
Throughout history and to this day, it happens over, and over, and over.
When will we connect the dots? When will we stop taking steps in the wrong direction, every time?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After confronting all the grimness of the Buchenwald Memorial, I had a short but pleasant interaction with a friendly German family. When I was waiting for the rest of the crew back at the entrance, a man and his two little boys approached me and he asked a question in lickety-split German. I asked him to repeat what he said again, and I gathered that he was inquiring about admission prices. My brain and my German knowledge cooperated together and I was able to inform him, in German, that it was free. He was happy to hear that and walked back to the car to get his sons and wife and came back few minutes later, offering me a pack of German fruit snacks (which I took. They were yum.)
His extremely cute son, a boy of 8 or 9, walked up and spoke some more lickety split German to me that I did not entirely comprehend, but he gave me another pack of fruit snacks before his little brother walked by as well, a chubby cheeked toddler with dark hair and brown eyes. I am severely Baby Deprived at this point and time, and resisted the urge to scoop him up, but I resisted, and soon they were on their way into the museum but I enjoyed the interaction, even though I didn't understand some of what was said.
Before we left, I grabbed the "coffee monsters" Aunt Rach and George a cappuccino each (don't tell 'em that is their nickname.) ;p
The guy at the cafeteria was giving me a weird look for reusing some take out paper coffee mugs from their coffee earlier today so I asked him in German "is this ok for me to do?"
He screwed up his face, raised one eyebrow and closed one eye all funny-like, and I thought he was going to tell me "no," but instead he was nice and allowed me to use them. He then rung me up for "zwei cappuccinos und eine wasser mit Sprudel."
Buchenwald and the memorial bell tower faded into the distance as we drove south.
On the drive home, the kids and I listened to some music on my iPhone in the car with the volume turned all the way up so the three of us sitting in the back could hear it. We have all been squished up all cozy in the back of the good ol' Honda Odyssey for who knows how many hours over the past ten days and have done remarkably well with it.
I have or two songs on my playlist that I suspected were Icelandic, based on the name of the singers, so I had the kids listen to them. It was so adorable to watch as they listened to the song, and after only a few words Ellert said
"yeah, this is Icelandic! I can pretty much understand all the words she is saying."
Their further commentary on my music selection:
*plays a bluegrass song*
(No commentary or a word spoken)
"That one sounds like a video game!"
Ellert: "oh I have heard that one, I went to the gym and heard it playing there."
*laughs*
"You sound like an 18 year old gym rat or something."
"It sounds like a robot is talking."
A Short Treatise on the word "Genau."
Genau
(ge-nao) {German}
Means: exactly, right, very, "bang", square, etc.
In the context I have heard this word used, it seems that, in a way, it is almost the German equivalent of saying "exactly! I know, right?"
It is used frequently as a filler word. Think of a teenage girl's exaggerated drawl and imagine her saying:
"Ja ja, Genauuuuuuuu...."
And you've got the idea. I hear it a lot, especially in malls where said Young Females congregate, but it is used everywhere.
Ja voll (literally: Yes Full) is the German equivalent of saying "totally." That's a fun one to use cause it's more of a local-yokel sort of thing to say or add on.
I know the "bad" German words (gee, thank you Book Theif), and of course, in the U.S. nobody would know what you are saying, but here, they definitely would. I can go incognito in the U.S. with the creative form of speech known as German swear words (and believe me, it's creative!) but here, the jig is up. Must be careful. ;)
I looked up as we drove and finally saw the mineral spa that told us we were about 15 minutes away from Schönaich. We arrived around 5:30 today, and it's so nice to be "home." :)
Us girls got everything out of the car and it was vacuumed and set right, but not before we all changed into short sleeves. It was long sleeve weather back at Buchenwald, a mere three hours away, but here, is it sticky hot. Variable is an understatement. And I thought Boone was bipolar.
Another kindness shown today was when "Grandpa" (aka their German landlord across the street) gave us the most lovely head of butter lettuce I have ever seen, fresh from his garden, as a welcome home present.
Right now, my bag is full of old admission tickets, brochures, and a few alien coins. I looks like I traveled for ten days in three countries and 8 cities or something.
The kids go back to school tomorrow and as such it looks like we will go to a normal sort of schedule this week. Not sure what exactly this weeks will hold, but it's Aunt Rachel and I, meaning it will be fun. We are probably going to take it easy for the next few days as a break from our nonstop travels the last ten days or so. The church bell is tolling 11 pm here, and I think I will turn in for the night.
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