We saw this fortress-looking place from several different angles from the valley floor and suspected it was the concentration camp. I went to Dachau in Germany when I was 20 and I was unable to eat or speak to anyone for the rest of the day. I also went to one in the Czech Republic over 10 years ago. These places will mess you up.
They hand out a recorder at Mauthausen with 1.5 hours of details about the worst miseries imaginable, but I couldn't take any more after 20 minutes. I have a visceral reaction to these sorts of things and got a terrible stomach ache and felt like I was going to faint.
This time what I struggled with the systematic removal of all human dignity. If I allowed myself to go down the path of what if it was Ben, or Elizabeth, Scott, my parents...any of my loved ones...instead of just the starvation-induced uniformity of faces and bodies in the old photos. I know I myself would not be one of the strong ones in these circumstances.
It was also very interesting to hear Scott's perspective because his Dad fought in WWII in the Pacific. Scott was born just 13 years after Mauthausen was liberated. It all is a little closer to him than me. We find ourselves coming back to the topic again and again as we ride.
Everyone knows of the psychological studies where university students who are assigned to be guards over fake prisoners (fellow students) invariably dehumanize and mistreat them, so much so that the experiments have to be halted. The capacity for evil inherent in humankind is hard to accept.
1 comment:
Yikes. A good reminder to always live within goodness and kindness. And I know you - you would be strong for sure.
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