I was waiting to put up this photo. This a photo I took in Germany at the first Nazi prison camps. It opened within a month of Hilter’s assent to power. It was the model for all the other prison camps. Thousand perished in this camp-and it was not a death camp-no gas chambers used. They died of starvation, disease, many were beaten to death, or executed by the guard. It was a place of such tragedy and pain. That is why I have waited two days to put this photo up. It was such a moving experience for me to visit this place and it was so very dark. The images are of the famous sign outside the prison camp, translated to “work sets you free.” It was the idea that you would be freed for enough labor. This camp released a few people but ultimately the sign came to mean that the only freedom would be from this pain was to be worked to death.
The next image was off the wooden block that people would be beaten for punishment. Offenses like to much dust on the floor, or a bed with wrinkles. They party being beaten was required to count to twenty in German. But every mistake made would cause the party to start over. Many Russian, and Polish people died on the block. Perhaps the most chilling of the story is that these types of punishments were administered by other prisoners.
Finally, the image is of a piece of art made by one of the survivors.