Shall I visit the house of the Wannsee Conference?
Jan 28th, 2016, 11:10 AM
#1
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Shall I visit the house of the Wannsee Conference?
I've always intended to visit das Haus der Wannsee Konferenz in Berlin, but a while ago I read a trip report which described it as being pretty horrific. I'm very interested in WWII and am fairly knowledgeable about it, but I'm not sure if I want to put myself through something like this. For that reason, though I've visited Germany many times and also Poland, but I've never been to a concentration camp.
What do you think? Have you visited das Haus der Wannsee Konferenz? What did you think of it?
What do you think? Have you visited das Haus der Wannsee Konferenz? What did you think of it?
Jan 28th, 2016, 11:32 AM
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Only you can decide whether you shall.
As for inputs on whether you should . . . that's different.
It's entirely unlikely that it would come close to approaching Terezin or Oswiecim.
Based on this description (http://www.orte-der-erinnerung.de/en...0/?STIL=0#c400), if you can't handle, you're really not that interested in WWII.
As for inputs on whether you should . . . that's different.
It's entirely unlikely that it would come close to approaching Terezin or Oswiecim.
Based on this description (http://www.orte-der-erinnerung.de/en...0/?STIL=0#c400), if you can't handle, you're really not that interested in WWII.
Jan 28th, 2016, 11:56 AM
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Judging by pictures of the house what is so horrific in the physical house itself - yes the Zazi genocides was decided here but there are no physically gruesome things on display it seems
https://www.google.com/search?q=plot...w=1920&bih=955
It's not like the Plotenzee Prison, just north of the Hauptbahnhof, were the meat hooks Hitler hung his worst enemies out on are still in the room where tortures and executions took place:
https://www.google.com/search?q=plot...HckyCfYQsAQIHQ
If you go out to the Wannsee you can also see the famous bridge where cold war spies were exchanged, the Glioenicke Bridge that once separated West Berlin from East Germany:
https://www.google.com/search?q=glie...w=1920&bih=955
And also right near those two things is Peacock Island, with all its weird follies and of course strutting peacocks:
https://www.google.com/search?q=peac...HcATDUgQsAQIGw
Do a boat trip on the Wannsee and have a great day out with those three neat sights.If a walker you can easily walk between the Wannsee and Potsdam's Sans Souci Palace and Gardens.
https://www.google.com/search?q=plot...w=1920&bih=955
It's not like the Plotenzee Prison, just north of the Hauptbahnhof, were the meat hooks Hitler hung his worst enemies out on are still in the room where tortures and executions took place:
https://www.google.com/search?q=plot...HckyCfYQsAQIHQ
If you go out to the Wannsee you can also see the famous bridge where cold war spies were exchanged, the Glioenicke Bridge that once separated West Berlin from East Germany:
https://www.google.com/search?q=glie...w=1920&bih=955
And also right near those two things is Peacock Island, with all its weird follies and of course strutting peacocks:
https://www.google.com/search?q=peac...HcATDUgQsAQIGw
Do a boat trip on the Wannsee and have a great day out with those three neat sights.If a walker you can easily walk between the Wannsee and Potsdam's Sans Souci Palace and Gardens.
Jan 28th, 2016, 12:48 PM
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I'm a bit irritated that anyone thinks I'm not "that interested in WWII."
That sounds like a silly thing to say, but I just counted 42 books on WWII ONLY on my kindle. I've also read other books in hardback or paperback, but I've lost track of which and how many. Those books are all on the European theater.
Since there are aspects of WWII history that I don't understand, I've also read a good deal about WWI, mainly to see the connection between the two wars. This reading has led to reading about the Franco Prussian war.
Naturally I watch all the WWII and Nazi stuff on TV.
I've lost count of how many times I've visited Germany, and I speak German, though I'm always trying to improve my use of the language.
I'm taking a class in German cinema right now. We have been watching and studying a film called "Sophie Scholl: the Last Days." Or next film will be "Der Falscher," or "The Counterfeiter," also a WWII drama.
That sounds like a silly thing to say, but I just counted 42 books on WWII ONLY on my kindle. I've also read other books in hardback or paperback, but I've lost track of which and how many. Those books are all on the European theater.
Since there are aspects of WWII history that I don't understand, I've also read a good deal about WWI, mainly to see the connection between the two wars. This reading has led to reading about the Franco Prussian war.
Naturally I watch all the WWII and Nazi stuff on TV.
I've lost count of how many times I've visited Germany, and I speak German, though I'm always trying to improve my use of the language.
I'm taking a class in German cinema right now. We have been watching and studying a film called "Sophie Scholl: the Last Days." Or next film will be "Der Falscher," or "The Counterfeiter," also a WWII drama.
Jan 28th, 2016, 12:53 PM
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I'm a bit irritated that anyone thinks I'm not "that interested in WWII.">
Well yes there was WW2 and there was the Holocaust, which did not start WW2 or really had any effect on it, the horrors of it only becoming publically well-known when the camps were liberated - it was in no way IMU the cause of WW2 and are thus separate things so I can see one being intrigued by WWII but not wanting to see the horrors that happened during it but not because of it.
Well yes there was WW2 and there was the Holocaust, which did not start WW2 or really had any effect on it, the horrors of it only becoming publically well-known when the camps were liberated - it was in no way IMU the cause of WW2 and are thus separate things so I can see one being intrigued by WWII but not wanting to see the horrors that happened during it but not because of it.
Jan 28th, 2016, 01:08 PM
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Peg
Must say I was also irritated too. I'm quite into WW2 myself, and not sure if I want to visit everything (well I saw a lot... inc holocaust).
And I don't get what motivates these answers. And I didn't see a clear answer from people who have seen the house.
As for visiting concentration camps, I've only seen Auschwitz (or Oswiecim as is now the trendto say) from the outisde and was underwhelmed by Dachau, that I found too clean - but it is not the goal of your question.
mfg
Must say I was also irritated too. I'm quite into WW2 myself, and not sure if I want to visit everything (well I saw a lot... inc holocaust).
And I don't get what motivates these answers. And I didn't see a clear answer from people who have seen the house.
As for visiting concentration camps, I've only seen Auschwitz (or Oswiecim as is now the trendto say) from the outisde and was underwhelmed by Dachau, that I found too clean - but it is not the goal of your question.
mfg
Jan 28th, 2016, 01:18 PM
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https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...280849422Start with this then go forward for about 29 shots. Decription follows, Peg.
Jan 28th, 2016, 02:44 PM
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The house of the Wannsee conference is a stately manor in what was also in the 1930s one of the most affluent parts of the city.
I think it derives its horror from the fact that it is far from being the horror house you expect it to be. If you did not know what had happened there, you'd love to move in.
The main purpose of the house is to showcase how many different parts of the 3rd Reich government, agencies and business corporations got involved in co-ordinating and executing the genocide.
Those who took part argued over how many cents per kilometer should be charged for the deportation trains to Auschwitz. Or similar grotesque details.
In German, we call that the banality of the evil.
IMO, it's worth a visit.
I think it derives its horror from the fact that it is far from being the horror house you expect it to be. If you did not know what had happened there, you'd love to move in.
The main purpose of the house is to showcase how many different parts of the 3rd Reich government, agencies and business corporations got involved in co-ordinating and executing the genocide.
Those who took part argued over how many cents per kilometer should be charged for the deportation trains to Auschwitz. Or similar grotesque details.
In German, we call that the banality of the evil.
IMO, it's worth a visit.
Jan 28th, 2016, 02:48 PM
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Stu, I visited Beppu in 1964-1965. The only thing I remember is the monkeys. I think I should haul out all those slides I took and have them printed into photos. I haven't looked at them for--Oh, my gosh! 50 years.
Jan 28th, 2016, 03:04 PM
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Thanks for the responses.
Pal, it's pretty hard to imagine how one could learn as much about WWII as I have learned without knowing about those horrors. But for me, there is a limit. I don't want to be harrowed by visiting concentration camps, for instance. I've seen the terrible pictures and read about the experiments and the overall treatment.
Pal, it's pretty hard to imagine how one could learn as much about WWII as I have learned without knowing about those horrors. But for me, there is a limit. I don't want to be harrowed by visiting concentration camps, for instance. I've seen the terrible pictures and read about the experiments and the overall treatment.
Jan 29th, 2016, 07:11 AM
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Peg..be my guest. I had a little Kodak Brownie and probably shot more pics than anyone else in my regiment.
Those were the days before everyone had a camera or two. Many times I was asked by an officer or non-com to take a picture. I was in the Occupation of Japan from 1946-1948 having enlisted as a 17-year old with wrtten permission from parents. Wow, they signed awfully fast.
The occupation assignments both in Germany and Japan
were handled exceptionally effectively,
freeing up old-time vets who had battled across the Pacific
and Europe,so they could go home. Recruiters were on a desperate campaign to sign up highschoolers in those days.
How did you getto my pics of Japan, Peg?
Those were the days before everyone had a camera or two. Many times I was asked by an officer or non-com to take a picture. I was in the Occupation of Japan from 1946-1948 having enlisted as a 17-year old with wrtten permission from parents. Wow, they signed awfully fast.
The occupation assignments both in Germany and Japan
were handled exceptionally effectively,
freeing up old-time vets who had battled across the Pacific
and Europe,so they could go home. Recruiters were on a desperate campaign to sign up highschoolers in those days.
How did you getto my pics of Japan, Peg?
Jan 30th, 2016, 02:41 PM
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I'm with you Peg, I don't understand some people's ideas that somehow you can't understand what the Holocaust was without physically visiting a concentration camp. That makes no sense given how much is available without physically visitng an actual camp. Surely people don't believe that people can't believe they exist without going there. There have been hundreds of films with footage of them, after all, which I would presume you've seen some of, not to mention many HOlocaust museums in various cities with artifacts, newsreels, etc. I've seen a lot of those, also, and don't feel any need to visit a concentration camp in order to grasp what was going on there or fully comprehend it. I think it is nonsense to say you can't understand what they were or what was going on (or "to understand Germany") without going to them.
