by Cal Brown
January 28,2015
Amy asked that I record and share the differences between what I saw in the exhibits of German concentration camps in the late 80s as opposed to how they’re portrayed today. Here’s my observations.
The first concentration camp I visited in Germany was Dachau, near Munich, in about 1988. The exhibits there were comprised largely of artifacts and authentic photography recording the horrific conditions, pictures of the work details, selection process where families were separated into various barracks, executions, the crematoria scenes, starvation, living skeletons, filth, and piles of naked dead bodies. The graphic nature was nightmarish. My last visit in about 2005 [about 17 years later] revealed a great “softening” of the memories with artist sketches replacing photos, artistic images portraying anguish instead of the “in your face” historic photography. I was shocked that the horror we were never supposed to forget was now being replaced with conscience easement.
The same experience happened with the Buchenwald concentration camp visit although there was a twist generated by the Russian occupation in the early days before the Berlin Wall fell. I visited Buchenwald on a cool, dreary day the immediate weekend the border was abolished between East and West Germany. My East German family hosts offered the trip to us before the site would be changed by the new German government. Indeed, I’ve visited Buchenwald about 4 times since 1989 and noted the same “softening” of the camp history. On the first visit I noted the Russians had also preserved Buchenwald into a remembrance of the holocaust but in different vein. The exhibits were there with signage at each location, descriptions written in Russian, German, and English. But there was no mention of the Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies at all. Instead, the camp was labeled as having been a labor and death camp for Socialists and Marxists, teachers and professionals who opposed the Nazis. It was clearly a propaganda tool for the current, at that time, Communist party. There were even more horrific photos depicting daily life, if one could call it that. I’d characterize it as “life awaiting death.” There were authentic exhibits in one building of piles of clothes removed from the internees upon arrival, of their jewelry (invaluable), shoes, luggage, and piles of hair sheared from their heads to prevent lice but also to be used as ammunition packing material for the Nazi war machine. There is a scene in the movie “Monuments Men” where the salt mine treasure is found and a barrel of gold nuggets turn out to actually be gold fillings of the victims. I recall the stench [in Buchenwald] from the hair and the rot of leather, the smell of musty clothing hung [was present] in the air. It was sickening but made the experience very real.
My last visit to Buchenwald in 2014 again found softening artistic images, the exhibits of clothing, hair, and shoes mostly disappeared save for one pallet of shoes laid out on a piece of plywood in one of the other buildings. I’m not saying that has no impact. To see the worn shoes of everyday life next to a pair of women’s stylish high heels, a business man’s foot apparel, and then the children’s shoes—those are the ones that tug at my heart, the children. I did read on one of the placards that the exhibits now have been shared with other concentration camps established as a remembrance since their own materials had been removed long ago.
I admittingly have mixed feelings. On one hand there should be a gradual healing that needs to take place. On the other is the strong need to always remember in order to avoid replication. It’s a balance I’m sure. But there was something powerful about seeing graphically how cruel the Nazis were, how there is a brutal reality that man can be the cruelest of creatures. I’m glad I saw the original and pray that the new exhibits will still communicate how precious life is, how we must guard against the fanaticism and evil that can overtake us if we aren’t willing to confront it and oppose it at all costs. The images of ISIS in the Middle East with its public YouTube beheadings, of children killed for their faith, of parents tortured and freedom trampled only verify that ultimate evil still exists and that we must remain vigilant in our opposition.
Cal