Land of the Hamburgers

This week has been super busy, and unfortunately I wasn't able to write about my weekend before Wednesday, so there goes my goal of weekly updates. I have a feeling they are going to be pretty spotty from here on out because I have so much coming up! I'll try my best though!

This past weekend, I traveled to Hamburg, Germany with my Holocaust and Genocide class for a study tour. We had a 5 hour bus ride, so we left fairly early on Saturday morning. To get to Germany, we had to drive to the coast and take the ferry across. The bus came on board, but we had to get off during the trip. On the way out, it was so windy that the waves were splashing to the top of the ferry and rocking the whole boat. I never get sea sick, but I was definitely feeling it this time! On the bright side, the stores on board did not have any taxes, so my classmates and I indulged in some of our favorite chocolate bars for half the price (we also saw the largest jar of Nutella I have ever seen). Also worth noting- fun fact: we watched The Pianist on the bus ride to Hamburg, and I totally performed the song that the pianist plays in the opening scene at a highschool recital. Maybe my new summer goal should be to relearn it...

Our first stop in Hamburg was the Bullenhuser Damm School. During WWII, an SS (a Nazi military party) physcian was experimenting with vaccines for tuberculosis. **Warning: this entry does not contain the most uplifting stories, so read on at your own discretion. As part of the racist ideologies of the time in Germany, it was thought that a person's ethnicity was a contributing factor in developing TB, so he experimented on Jews, Soviets, and people from other "inferior" races at the Neuengamme concentration camp nearby. Later, he used 20 Jewish children from Auschwitz for his experiments. After being injected with the disease, they were brought to the schoolhouse and killed by the SS officers in order to cover up the crimes. There was an exhibit about the experiments, the perpetrators, and the children involved at the school, as well as a memorial garden. The museum was really small but it was interesting to read about the experiments and the tributes to the victims were nice to see as well.

After we checked into our hostel, we had the choice to have free time or go to an art museum in the city... so we had free time. My roommates and I took the opportunity to walk around Hamburg for a few hours before dinner. Luckily, two of them had already gone to Hamburg with their classes, so I had my very own personal tour guides and got to give my map skills a little break.  For some reason, I pictured it as a little town but it's actually really big...and so pretty! We saw some type of political protest by town hall which was pretty cool. There was also some guy whose job it was to make a pile of bottle caps, watch kids run through them and spill them across the street, and then go collect them and put them back in a pile for more kids to run through. Obviously, I joined the kids and kicked some around myself. We made sure to stop at the gummy bear store for free samples as well (okay, I bought a bag) because gummy bears apparently originated in Germany and they are ten times better than the ones in the United States. Also, if you didn't catch from the title of this post (so creative, isn't it?), I learned that the people in Hamburg are referred to as, "Hamburgers." Apparently, I am still eight years old and laughed every time it came up.

We had a three course meal waiting for us at a nearby restauraunt next. It was such a great meal and a really good chance to get to know my classmates, who I never really had a chance to meet.  Everyone was really nice (and very different, which made for some pretty interesting conversation). Unfortunately though, I ended up sitting next to Buzzkill Bonnie, who does not eat, "swine." The waitress kindly assured her that the meat they would be serving was beef. However, in Germany, dietary restrictions (especially those regarding meat) are not as well understood. Let's just say that when we discovered that the side of potatoes had little bacon bits in them (umm..yumm!), my dramatic classmate was not a happy camper, refused to eat anything else, spent the rest of the night sulking, and basically just killed the mood completely. It was at this point that I helped myself to a second serving of potatoes...hey, more for the rest of us!

After dinner, a group of us decided to continue our walk through Hamburg, but this time check out the red light district. Apparently, Hamburg has the second biggest red light district in Europe (second only to Amsterdam). I'm not going to go into much detail here, as we only walked through it anyways. Use your imagination though. We did manage to grab a picture with a person dressed up as "Where's Waldo," which made our night complete.

The next day can be described in two words: food and sad. (Terrible combination, by the way). We had breakfast at the hostel, and then went straight to see the Church of St. Nicholas, in the middle of Hamburg. This church was bombed by the Allies during the war, which ruined a large portion of the city. That is why most of the buildings in Hamburg are more modern looking -neighborhoods were literally destroyed. The church has not been restored to its former condition, so it's a neat place to see and really get a feel for what went on there. We took the elevator up to the top, where there is an incredible view of the city and some neat pictures of how parts of the city used to look from the top of the church before the bombing.

After our stop at the church, we headed to brunch (don't forget, we ate breakfast about an hour and a half before this...so no one was actually hungry). There was a huge buffet with so many amazing dishes (cheeses, meats, fruits, salmon, bread, anything you could ever think of). Somehow I ended up sitting across from, "I don't eat swine" again, but she was much more well behaved today. Everyone eagerly filled their plates up, wanting to try everything, and then went back for seconds when we discovered there was a waffle machine. Needless to say, we all left the place wanting to walk around with our pants unbuttoned for the rest of the day...well, at least I did. I'm not sure why I don't have a picture of this, since I seem to have a picture of every other edible item I've come across abroad...

Our final stop of the trip, and the main reason for coming, was to the Neuengamme concentration camp, which is located just outside of Hamburg. Neuengamme was a work camp (as opposed to an extermination camp) during the war, but it still had one of the highest death rates due to its location and conditions. I didn't really know what my expectations were -probably, along the lines of the classic textbook images I had seen so many times. But whatever I did expect, what I saw was nothing like it. In fact, there isn't really a whole lot to even see. For instance, a lot of the barracks had to be taken down, so there were simply walls of stones next to "roll call square" resembling where they used to be.

There was still a lot of the original parts of the camp in tact though, such as the railroad tracks, and the areas that the workers had to dig for clay. Even so, being there was just bone chilling, especially because our teacher gave us a tour of the camp himself and is so knowledgeable on the subject. The information he would tell us was unlike anything I had ever learned about before. Even though it is a really heavy subject matter, I really like listening to him because he just knows so much. One point of the tour that stood out most to me was a transport wagon situated on one of the railroad tracks. Across from it was a box outlined in the ground that was the same size as the wagon. Our teacher had our class of about 30 kids stand inside of it. It was a tight squeeze. He then told us that there would typically be about 80 people in one wagon, for days. It is just mind boggling.

I really don't know how to describe the feeling of being there. I guess 'sad' does the trick. It's a very sobering experience.  But I honestly think, if given the chance, people should take the time to visit a place like that. While it is a reminder of one of the worst atrocities in history, it is an important reminder, and one that should not be forgotten. (If you do ever go though, do not eat a large meal beforehand -it will not sit well in your stomach and make the trip more unpleasant than necessary). Oh, and before I forget, one very interesting note from our tour: Following WWII and to this day, the Germans fully accept responsibility for their actions and they are very ashamed of their past -and they will make the point of it. For instance, when we were visiting the church that was bombed, the information blurbs would basically flat out say that the Allies rightfully bombed Nazi Germany and that they deserved it, even if it did mean the loss of many innocent people. I respect that!

Overall, the trip was a really great educational experience and a nice opportunity to see another culture and meet some new people. I have to admit though, I am looking forward to a (hopefully) more lighthearted trip next week to Poznan, Poland and Berlin, Germany with my Human Health and Disease class.

And just a few random facts/observations/things I learned/etc. that I thought I'd share this week:

1. You have to pay for a bag if you want one for your groceries at the store. This would not go over too well with McCaffrey's customers...especially the, "I'll have the bread in double plastic" type.
2. The wind blows in every direction in this country. That, or it changes direction to face me every time I turn, which is highly improbable, although I wouldn't be surprised because I ride against it both to the train station, and home from the train station. Interesting...
3. Apparently, people will leave their babies out on the street while they are in the store. I haven't actually seen it yet, but a lot of people have. I'll have to keep you update on this.
4. I think I was born tanner than I am right now.
5. I wore just a North Face jacket today. No heavy winter coat :)
6. I'm actually enjoying writing in this blog (shocker, I know). I think I've "discovered my blogging voice," as Ali would say. Hope you are enjoying reading it as well...I certainly hope all of the page views are not all from me!