My son and two friends will be backpacking through Europe and want to pay their respects at one of the concentration camps.They expect this to be a very moving experience. Any advice?

<BR>I have been to Dachau, Mauthahausen, Thieresenstadt and Sachenhausen. You don't say what countries your sons will be traveling in which make a difference. Of the four I saw I was most impacted by Mauthhausen in Austria somewhat near Salzburg. The day was bleak and steel skied which fit the place. The exhibits are only in German (which I read but may be a problem for your son...but there is an English tape you can get when you pay admission). Dachau is the most visited one but has no original barracks left....Mauthhausen still has them all (as do the other 3 I mentioned). The gas chamber at Dachau was never used but they used the one at Sachsenhausen and Mauthhausen quite a bit. Mauthhausen is the most untouched.

My wife and I also visited Dachau and Mauthausen and found the latter to be an extremely moving experience. The ovens and gas chambers are still intact and there is room upon room of photos and artifacts. We were there on a bright, sunshiny day, to be there on the kind of day Morrie described would be really gut-wrenching, we were quite subdued as it was. The memorials from various countries, on the way to the quarry, is very touching.

<BR>We visited both camps in Poland in 1997 - by overnight train from Berlin to Krakow. I don't remember if the exhibits were marked in any language although I'm sure they were because it really didn't matter. Just viewing them was gut-wrenching. The short video shown at the visitor center does not fully prepare for the actual sites in the camp itself. Although early on a beautiful, sunny Sunday, the mood of the tourists at the camps were somber, quiet and respectful. Neither camp was overly crowded at that time (September), however high school groups (proudly Jewish) were overwhelmed - as we all were. Nationalities blended because everyone had the same clenched teeth and sad look. Visit or not? By all means, I hope your son can visit and remember. That Sunday has total recall for us. (Much like the Challenger or Kennedy.)We did not visit the camps in Germany. My advise is if in the area, do not miss this very important part of history - albeit a dark episode. With our population being younger and younger, this dreadful episode in our history should never be allowed to fade in memory and only by visits by youth will it remain.

If there is any chance your son and his firends will be in Poland, they should *definitely* go to Auschwitz and Birkenau (3 km apart). I have been to Dachau and Mauthausen, as well as Auschwitz/Birkenau and Majdanek in Poland, and Auschwitz/Birkenau is by far the most moving. Perhaps because our impressions of the Holocaust are formed primarily by its images, I found it overwhelmingly powerful to actually see the train tracks that lead up to the gates at Birkenau (having seen them in so many documentaries and films such as Schindler's List). The immense size of the camps, along with the knowledge of the expansion plans the SS was in the process of carrying out when the tide of the war started to turn, is just incredible to behold. By all means, your son should go to one of the camps, even if he can't make it to Auschwitz/Birkenau. It is something he will never forget, which is, after all, the whole point....

On two separate trips which were several years apart, we went to Dachau and later to Auschwitz/Birkenau. Grim as it was, Dachau (after we had seen Auschwitz) seemed somehow sanitized, swept clean, almost clinical. Auschwitz, on the other hand, hits you in the gut. So immense, gritty, filled with exhibits -- human hair in enormous piles, stacks and stacks of suitcases, artificial limbs, toys, kitchen utensils, eyeglasses, empty containers of Zyklon B. Either camp teaches its own lessons. In my opinion, Auschwitz seems closer to reality, however horrible.

Just so you can find on the map as well as train/bus time tables Auschwitz=Oswiecim (its close to Cracow=Krakow - beautiful historic city - which has train/bus service to small town of Oswiecim). Oswiecim/Auschwitz it is considered one of the best memorials (since nazi had no time to fully destroy this evidance) - must see for everyone...

I visited Auschwitz as a 12 year old boy in 1978 and can still remember it like it was yesterday. I cannot recall the visitors centre etc etc because it probably was not there. Poland was well and truly behind the iron curtain in those days. What I do recall were the piles of human hair and exhibits explained already by other posters. The main thing that struck me was the Polish family with whom we stayed for some weeks. The father drove us to the camp but would not go in, his sadness at what had happened was so deep and so moving that I remember his face to this day. <BR>My advice is go...once visited you can never forget.

I also vote for Mauthausen. It is pretty much in original condition so gives you a very good sense of what it was like. <BR>

As I will be in Prague in August,I plan to visit Thierenstadt.Has anybody visited that camp are what are your impressions? <BR>

Dear Mr Lepelstadt, <BR> <BR>You ask "Has anybody visited that camp are what are your impressions?" <BR>I have: my impressions are deep sorrow. It is especially hard to bear the children's drawings. I can see all the case gainst Mr Blair's view on Kossovo, but in the end we cannot just stand back, ever again. <BR> <BR>And then for lunch you could take the bus 15 minutes over the bridge to Litomerice. Just another quiet Czech Baroque town, but as beautiful as the others, and some kind of antidote to the poison of Terezin. <BR> <BR>Please cwrite again if I can help further. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines

I just returned from Eastern Europe.We visited Auschwitz one day. We did not plan it that way,but the day was chilly and rainy and gloomy.As we walked along the street lined with barracks, I could only imagine how the people felt in the winter,with snow and freezing temperatures and no warm clothing. The exhibits are very moving - collections of human hair,men's shaving brushes,toothbrushes,luggage with names on them. I broke down when I saw the collections of pots,especially blue and white metal pots which looked very much like the one I have which my grandmother brought from Poland in the early 1900's. <BR>Last summer I visited Olympia in Greece and felt the excitement of the athletes who passed through the stone corridor on their way into the stadium.This summer I felt the pain of the prisoners who passed through the brick corridor on their way into the "showers."

My family will be in Berlin, Dresden and Prague this summer. I had not planned to visit a camp, but some of these postings have changed my mind. I gather from the previous posting that Terezin is outside of Prague. Can anyone give recommendations on how to get there, and also on whether there are other similar sites we could visit from Berlin or Dresden? <BR>

Terezin is 68 kilometers north of Prague, and can be reached by slow trains on the line towards Dresden. <BR>Oswiecim is near by beautiful city of Krakow with daily buses to Oswiecim. <BR>If you seeing Prague, Dresden and Berlin, should also see Krakow... There are express trains Warsaw Krakow Prague Budapest which you may want to consider...(train sleeper instead of hotel?)

GUIDE BOOK: <BR>"Concentration Camps, A Traveler's Guide to World War II Sites" by Marc Terrance. <BR>Available On-Line from AMAZON.com "BarnesandNoble.com" and directly from the publisher at "upublish.com/books/terrance.htm" <BR> <BR>Please visit my webpage with links to the above for easy ordering. <BR> www.ConcentrationCampGuide.com <BR> <BR>A Must for anyone planning on visiting the Concentration Camps of Europe. <BR>Contains street maps showing exact directions to the sites, walking routes, <BR>road signs, bus and train information, opening hours and what remains of <BR>the camps today. Includes 45 Street Maps, Over 160 Pictures plus many <BR>useful websites. The guide covers 39 Sites in Poland, Germany, Austria, the <BR>Czech Republic, France and The Netherlands. I hope you will find this <BR>useful. We must NEVER FORGET. Thank you

They should *definitely* go to Auschwitz and Birkenau. I have been to Dachau and it is very sanitized compared to Auschwitz. <BR> <BR>Auschwitz has been kept as it was found. Don't forget the Poles lost many of their own intelligensia in concentration camps as well so they have preserved it as a testimony to the Holocaust. <BR> <BR>We must NEVER FORGET....

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My wife and I have visited several camps over the years. The most overwhelming camp was Malthausen, as her uncle was a survivor of it. She was unable to stay there too long. <BR> We have also visitred Terrizin. Recommend if possible using a travel service from the Jewish quarter in Prague. That is what we did and our guide was a survivor. Terrazin is not a camp but a ghetto, where the Jews were forced to live. Every site is overwhelming and incomprehensible as to the horrors that took place there. It is something that MUST be seen by young people so as to remember that the Holocaust did occur. alan