We are going to Germany next week. Among the many things we want to see is one concentration camp. Not a fun place but a necessary one. We will be near both Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. Can anyone recommend which is the more realistic or representative?

Phill <BR> <BR>I spent all day Sunday 6th February visiting Sachsenhausen. I can't make a comparison with Buchenwald or a recommendation as I haven't been there but perhaps some of the other regulars here can. <BR> <BR>Sachsenhausen left me somewhat bewildered and angry but also grateful that I had the opportunity to visit. An old family friend, now deceeased, lost his brother there and throughout his life Sachsenhausen was never far from his thoughts. I'd always promised him that if I was ever in Berlin I'd visit it and take with me and leave there some small personal items of his. I was so very happy I could do that. <BR> <BR>Email me if you need further information e.g. travel details etc - I'd be more than pleased to help. <BR> <BR>Rob

Over the years, we have seen several. Dachau, outside Munich, has been so cleaned up, leveled, and sanitized that one who did not know what happened there might get the impression that it was something like a minimum-security prison, with fields of raked gravel, neat outlines of what had been barracks, and little to give evidence of its grim past of torture and ritualized murder. On the other hand, Auschwitz--all four of its camps--leaves one shaken by its enormous size, its clear evidence of the remains of its victims, its cells, its thousands of photos of its victims. The piles of human hair, the suitcases, the kitchen utensils, the personal effects. Awful.

It's in Poland not Germany But as one previous post I would highly recommand Auschwitz (Oswiecim) near Cracow (Krakow). It's not only large but also well preserved and documented and very realistic. Escaping Nazis had no time to destroy it. Must see for anyone it this one really touches you. Cracow is a nice stopover - since it is consider one of the beautifull cities in Europe.

I know you probable won't be able to go here but FYI Mauthausen is a small camp over the German border in Austria (a few minutes off the autoban northeast of Munich near Linz and Enns), is an interesting camp to go to. It is a relatively small fortress or prison looking camp in the Danube River Valley. It is not as sanatized as Dacau and is a moving place. You can go through it in no more than an hour or two. Also it is less "touristy" than Dacau.