Auschwitz visit

Makunouchi said:
Also, it was too long ago, the war and what went on during it have no effect on people of my age (mid 20's), it's history. Of course that's just my opinion, but i think I'm not far off.
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I would have loved to have dragged you along to Fenton Cenotaph this morning and for you to tell all the old soldiers what you just wrote here.
If you think that what they did all those decades ago has nothing to do with you now then you really need to get some history down your neck.
I am a hypocrite because at your age I thought exactly the same but since around 1980 I've been going to the Cenotaph every year and giving respect for the life I lead now.
 
KNiVES said:
Can you imagine what it must've been like for the victims during the cold days and nights in winter? It's unfathomable. No clothes, no heating, no comforts... just merciless death around every corner.
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Exactly - that's why I thought winter would be the most "appropriate" time to visit.
It was about -5 if I remember rightly, so not that cold but the snow and wind made it very hostile.
 
dmpoole said:
stuff
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I did History at A-level, I loved it, worked hard at it and know a lot about many periods in history, and as I said I have been to pretty much all the major first and second world war sites and memorials in Europe.

Yes the past always shapes, and has a bearing on the future, but does the Second World War effect me directly or personally? Not in the slightest.

Not a popular opinion for this sort of board obviously, but I'm allowed to have it. Now that's not to say that we shouldn't honour those who gave their lives, or have respect for what's gone before and learn from it or any of that good stuff, that's totally not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is going to Auschwitz will (probably) not change your life.
 
While this is a truely sad place and the things the Nazis did were awful, this is a themepark compared to what the Japanese did...I even watched some documentaries about it on youtube.

Check this wiki link out, some of the tests they did, I have no idea why someone would do such a thing :(

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Wiki Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

Vivisection

Prisoners of war were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia.[11][13] Vivisections were performed on prisoners after infecting them with various diseases. Scientists performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive because it was feared that the decomposition process would affect the results.[11][14] The infected and vivisected prisoners included men, women, children, and infants.[15]

Vivisections were also performed on pregnant women, sometimes impregnated by doctors, and the fetus removed.[16] Prisoners had limbs amputated in order to study blood loss.[11] Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body.[11] Some prisoners' limbs were frozen and amputated, while others had limbs frozen then thawed to study the effects of the resultant untreated gangrene and rotting.

Some prisoners had their stomachs surgically removed and the esophagus reattached to the intestines.[11] Parts of the brain, lungs, liver, etc. were removed from some prisoners.[11][13][17]

In 2007, Doctor Ken Yuasa testified to the Japan Times that, "I was afraid during my first vivisection, but the second time around, it was much easier. By the third time, I was willing to do it." He believes at least 1,000 people, including surgeons, were involved in vivisections over mainland China.[18]

I wouldn't recommend going to Google Images if you search for Unit 731
 
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My granddad was a POW in Singapore camps, he survived and came back to Britain and lived a normal life till his death, god knows what it was like, I was only 11 when he died and he only told me stories that I could find interesting and funny for my age, he would never speak to my dad (his son) about his time and he would speak to my mum about it quite a bit from what she told me.

Wish I could talk to him now about his time in the camps but that is life, everything he went through lost, reason why Remembrance day is so important not for people that died in conflict but people that have seen the worst in humanity and survived, things nearly every member on ocuk could never comprehend and will never face and reason why war should be the utmost last resort.
 
All this talk of Auschwitz, the Nazis and not a word about us siding with Stalin who before WW2 got started had did what the Nazis did plus some. If one stops and thinks it over for a moment, he got away with it and in the end stage managed Auschwitz. We are being told by one mass murderer that the one next door was the worse, when infact he out did him.
 
Thanks very much for the post and for the photos. I have seen quite a lot of the stuff from primary sources in the past (currently studying a BA in History) but never up close like that. It does hit home. One day I will definitely pay a visit. By the way, wasn't it the British that invented the concentration camp?
 
Harrowing stuff indeed. Just makes you wonder if different governments are still doing this stuff today!
 
Hell's Gate at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

auschwitz07.jpg
 
@philstanbridge: I think we have that dubious credit, yes - during the Boer war.
I'm watching the TV adaptation of "Primo" I've got on DVD at the moment, it's moving stuff, very much required viewing.
 
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