Day 19 - Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp & Legoland

Today nearly everything that could go wrong went wrong!

We got up early and got ready as today we had to take about 1 1/2 hours of public transport to get to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in Oranienburg. If you do not want to read details and see photos regarding the war and concentration camps, please don’t read on.

Public transport in Berlin seems mostly disorganised, and very confusing! Quite often the buses that are meant to turn up don’t turn up, and when it comes to trains there is no proper signage showing where any of them are. Also if you ask anyone for help they tell you opposite directions so it seems the locals don’t even really know what is going on!

Anyway, it started off all going well. The bus turned up when it should have. We caught the bus to the station. From there we caught a train. Once we hopped off this train we had to find another train which was a little challenging but we got on there just in time and eventually arrived in Oranienburg. From here, we had to catch another bus. Unfortunately, somehow we ended up on the 803 bus instead of the 804 bus. This brought us to the edge of a random forest, instead of right outside the concentration camp.

It was absolutely freezing cold, and as we were used to warm weather we weren’t very prepared - the forecast hadn’t looked as bad as it felt! Titus was crying as he was cold and tired, Mila was crying because she had a sore stomach, Auke had a migraine, Ali was confused about where we were and Lana was upset about walking through long grass because apparently it was itchy.

We had to walk about fourty minutes to get to the back of the concentration camp. There were no buses anywhere around, and no taxis (not that that would have been an option anyway as we needed car seats).

So we shivered our way all the way to the back entrance of the concentration camp. We found out later that you’re not even allowed in that way, but thankfully they let us in.

Just before we got let in, the first thing we saw was a mass grave for 7000 prisoners. This was very sad to see.

We got let in by pressing a buzzer and going through big black gates. There was a camera watching, but there was no one around at all. We came across some barracks and went inside. In here we saw this quote.

We kept walking and buzzed to get in through the next gate. We were let in but it seemed very strange. There were big ‘danger’ signs up to stay on the path and the grass was completely overgrown. We walked through shin height grass and there were no barracks anywhere (only a couple signs where barracks used to be) and once again no people around. We tried walking to the next gate but this was a dead end with no camera or buzzer. We figured we might have to go off the path to find how to get out but after walking around in the forest we found absolutely nothing. We had to trudge all the way back through the long grass and try to get back through the gate we came in. The grass was a lot longer than it looks.

Thankfully after buzzing a few times we managed to get back through and we walked all the way back to where we first saw the barracks. It was here we noticed another path and when we walked up there, we saw some people. We were finally on the way to the main camp (after about fourty minutes of trudging around in the long grass etc).

At the main camp, the first thing we could see was a giant statue.

We carried on walking and all of a sudden there were people everywhere. Obviously the place we had started at was a place no one really went to as it was out of the way and very unkempt.

We started off at the place where they used to execute people. Apparently most Soviet soldiers were shot on entry. They say it is because they believed the Soviet soldiers would cause trouble in the camp. There was also a mass grave here. We didn’t take photos of all of it, just one part where they executed 100 Nederlandse prisoners. It was here also that they had some photos of some of the people who were executed. These photos had been snuck of some prisoners when they had entered the camp and were hidden.

We carried on walking and came across the crematorium and gas chambers. These had been bombed at the end of the war, so they were in ruins. The gas chambers and crematorium was actually only built in the second half of the war. They used to transport the bodies around Berlin to different crematoriums but one day the vehicle fell open and bodies came out. As they were trying to hide the fact they were killing people, they ended up building their own crematorium. The gas chambers were for the Soviet soldiers also. Most Jews here only stayed a few days before they were transferred to Auschwitz. They do think that near the end of the war when they couldn’t transfer them, some may have been killed here. In the photo you can still see some of the ovens.

Following this, Auke looked after Titus while Ali and the girls continued to look around. We came across another statue with the names of all the countries involved in the war.

We found the prisoners kitchen. Upstairs, they had some old uniforms and prison clothes. They also had a lot of things they had found at the camp - diaries, pictures, clothes, the prison numbers and coloured triangles for each different race etc. They also had the death cart which they used to move the bodies.

Downstairs, you could see the old kitchen. They have covered the original paintings in glass to preserve them.

Once finished in here, we walked over to Auke where he said we only had about 45 minutes until our bus. The original plan was that we were going to have 2-3 hours here, but because we got off at the wrong bus stop and got lost we had nearly run out of time.

Auke who wasn’t interested in looking around because of his migraine, took Titus and Mila and sat down. Lana and Ali then had to run (yes, literally run) around the entire camp otherwise they wouldn’t have time to see anything. There was no time to read anything much, only have a quick look.

The next place we found was the autopsy room and the morgue. To cover up the fact that they were killing people, every person had to be given an ‘autopsy’ to look like they had died from disease etc. In reality, they cut the bodies in the way you would do an autopsy, and then sewed them back up without actually doing one.

They were then brought downstairs to the morgue. Downstairs, you can see where they would drop the bodies down.

We then came across the hospital. There wasn’t much to see here, it was mostly reading and we didn’t have any time so we ran on to the next place.

The next place we found was the prison. They were also tortured in here and lived in horrendous conditions. They still had a few ‘beds’ in the dark and dinghy prison. Out the back of the prison was more mass graves.

Finally, we came across the Jewish barracks. There were no photos allowed to be taken in here, but basically they had recreated how they looked. They didn’t have the original furniture as a lot of it had been destroyed or bomber, so they had new furniture made to show how it was. At this stage, we had 15 minutes left until our bus so we ran to the entrance to meet up with Auke. On the way we snapped some pictures of the fence and neutral zone.

At the entrance where Auke was, Ali took a quick photo to show that this camp also had the German saying ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ or ‘Work Makes you Free’. This is the same sign they have at Auschwitz.

Auke was sitting near an indoor museum part. As we had a couple minutes, we had a quick look in here. This part also had no photos allowed, as they had Nazi uniforms on display, as well as a lot of propaganda for Hitler.

We then walked quickly to our bus. Turns out we were still quite far from the entrance, as the entrance to the camp is not the entrance to the actual museum part. We walked/ran past heaps more displays and information, all of which we had to miss.

All day Mila had complained about a sore stomach, and by now she was nearly doubled over. She could barely walk anymore so we decided we better go home. We managed to catch our bus back to the train station. Once at the train station, we had 20 minutes until our train so we decided to get Macdonalds.

The Macdonalds here only had three staff members - one on the counter and two cooking. It was the smallest one we had ever seen! We tried to order a combo, but the man at the counter told us that they don’t have any combos in Germany, the closest you can get is if you order a Happy Meal. This really surprised us!

Once we got our food, we took it straight to the train. We caught our train and then took the food out to eat. Mila was lying on the seat upset and holding her tummy, and didn’t want to eat anything.

About ten minutes later she sat up and said she didn’t have a sore tummy anymore so we asked if she wanted to still go to Legoland which was our original plan. She really wanted to go so we got off the train.

We then had to swap to the underground which we took to Potsdamer Platz. From here we walked to Legoland.

By the time we got to Legoland (just a five minute walk from the station), Mila was doubled over again. We offered again that we could go home but she insisted she wanted to go.

Outside Legoland, there was a band playing and a guy standing on a cart handing out free beer. There were also horses. We were excited to get a free beer - turns out it is a Bavarian beer which was having it’s 125th birthday and they were celebrating. We quickly took a photo of the kids with the band and horses, and then lined up in the queue for Legoland tickets.

Legoland was amazing! Inside, there was so much to do. There were workshops where they taught you how to build a Lego model and afterwards you could pay a couple euros to keep it. There were rides. A rock climbing wall. Things made out of Lego everywhere. There was a place where you could build a Lego car and race it down a track and it told you how fast your car went. There were Lego building stations, Duplo building stations etc everywhere. There were playgrounds. There were slides and ball pits. There was even a place where lasers shone and you had to try jump through it like a ninja to get to the other side without hitting the lasers. There was an entire mini city made out of Lego. There was a 4D movie theatre. There were stations where you could make your own animation film by building Lego things and filming them and it made it into a movie for you. There were so many things we can’t even remember them all!

The first thing we did was went to the 4D theatre. It was all in German, but it was fun to watch anyway.

We then let the kids play in the playground for a while but Mila was too sore. After that we tried a ride. Mila hobbled over to the ride and then found out she was too young to be able to go on it - well you can imagine how that went. Lana needed an accompanying adult so Lana and Ali went on the ride.

They built cars and raced them, and then we went to another 4D movie. This one was in English so it was better, but Ali had to sit in the front row with Titus so she didn’t get any of the 4D part as there was no water or wind etc in the front row.

We then moved on upstairs. This was the part that had the mini city made out of Lego. We looked at that, and then found the second ride which Mila was actually allowed on. Ali and the girls went on this twice - Auke didn’t want to go because of his migraine - and then we decided we should go home because Titus was upset and Mila was sore. Lana was very disappointed to leave as there was still so much she didn’t get a chance to do.

As we walked out, Mila asked for food. None of us had had dinner yet so we decided we may as well quickly eat before we went home. We chose an Italian place. Ali and Auke ordered pasta, Lana ordered pizza, and all Mila felt like was the apple strudel so we got that for her. Well, what a mistake! When it came out, she completely lost it because apparently the piece was too big. When Ali cut it up, then apparently it was ruined. She cried the whole time while we quickly tried to eat our pasta (which to top it off tasted gross). Titus was also really upset. We quickly paid and then we went to the station to take the train home.

Once there, we realised we still had to wait twenty minutes until the next train. As stated above, Berlin’s public transport is definitely not user friendly. There was no sign that said at all which way we should go to catch the train. We asked one lady which was a local and she told us we had to go somewhere else. So we walked all the way there and decided to check with another local to be sure. He told us no, we had to go all the way back from where we came from. So we went back, and eventually our train came.

As you can imagine, we couldn’t wait to be home by this stage. Once the train ride was over, we walked to the bus stop. The bus was meant to be only a few minutes away, but never turned up and so we ended up having to wait ages for the next one. Finally it turned up, and we managed to get home.

We were unsure what to do about Mila, but she said she was feeling a bit better so we decided to let her sleep and see how she was the next day.