Rasmenia

It seems that most people, when planning a trip to France automatically plan a trip to Paris.  I suppose that’s because if you’re going to come to France, you just HAVE to see the Eiffel Tower.

Yawn.

For many people, Paris IS France – there is nothing at all worth seeing that exists outside of Paris, so they spend their vacation strolling on the Champs Élysées & gawking at the Arc de Triomphe.

Snore.

Of course, standing around in museums, staring at a painting of a bowl of fruit is a really good time.  Shopping for over-priced clothes is a real kick in the ass, too.  Right?

Ugh.  Whatever.

There are some other people who comprehend the fact that there is a France outside of Paris.  Maybe those people are taking bicycle tours through Provence, are sunning themselves on the Mediterranean coast, or are taking wine tours through Burgundy.  Good for them.

Maybe they’re history nerds on the beaches of Normandy.

Olivier & I have been to Normandy a couple of times in the past few years.  We spent a weekend there for our first wedding anniversary & have gone back just for the fun of being tourists.  Sometimes, we just like to get our nerd on, you know?

The Longues-sur-Mer battery was part of the Atlantic Wall fortification that was constructed by the Germans.  If you’re an ignorant fool who has never cracked open a history book, or watched a documentary, then just think of the opening scene to Saving Private Ryan.

The battery was constructed by the Wermacht, who, as you may already know, didn’t build flimsy half-assed shit.

Those same German bunkers that were bombed to all hell during the D-Day invasion are still standing.

Still sturdy enough for dick jokes.

Of course, a few of them sustained a little more damage.

Tourists will generally stand in front of anything if you point a camera at them long enough.

Another place that is worth seeing in Caen is the Mémorial de Caen.  This will take up most of an entire day & is well worth it.

To be honest, this place probably deserves its very own post, but I am a lazy woman & decided to lump all of these things together.  You’ll just have to take a trip to Caen to see for yourself exactly what I mean.

Upon entering the museum, one makes an immediate descent into a darkened chamber, symbolizing the descent into the hell of war.  The feeling of immersion is indeed profound.  Visitors meander at their own pace through a global time line that begins just before Hitler’s rise to power on through the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall & the 9/11 attacks.

While much of the museum is focused on the events of WWII, D-Day & the destruction that took place in Caen in 1944, it is much more than that.  It is a memorial & a monument to peace; a meditation on the evils & failures of war.

The Caen Memorial is thought-provoking, interesting & in some ways, upsetting.  However, what is most upsetting is that upon leaving, it’s so plain to see that in spite of our past mistakes related to war, we really haven’t learned a goddamn thing.

Something else in Normandy that is not to be missed is the Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial.  There are 11 American military cemeteries in France & for you ignorant fools deprived of history books & documentaries, just think back to Saving Private Ryan again.  The cemetery where they buried Tom Hanks?  Yeah, it’s this one.

Another cool thing about visiting an American cemetery in France – well, if you’re an expat with an attitude problem like me – is that it is considered American territory.  So, when I feel like being really cocky, I can go there, stick my chest out & strut around for a while before being humbled in the streets of Paris once again.

Now… the most important thing, the thing that cannot, must not be missed in Normandy: the food.  Camembert, Neufchâtel, & Boursin fromages.  Flan Normand, (it’s kind of like an apple pie, but with French deliciousness) brioche & macaroons.  Crepes with a big glass of cidre.

Definitely worth the trip.

Or… you could just go stand around in front of the Eiffel Tower & rent Saving Private Ryan again.

“First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”  -Martin Niemöller

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This is the blog post that I almost didn’t write.  I debated long & hard about it, knowing that I could never do justice to the topic, that I wasn’t worthy & I would have to abandon the mockery, snark & sarcasm in order to discuss it.  Let’s face it – as much as I hate it, some shit just isn’t funny.

In the end, I decided to sober up & write it, knowing that I still can do no justice to the topic, but the fact that it is such an important subject won over doubt.  While I am still not worthy, I have done my best & have had to ask for some assistance in speaking about this from a few of those who have already phrased things much better than I & are of far greater authority than myself.

While in Germany, Olivier & I made a visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.  We spent the entire day walking the grounds, in & out of the prisoner’s barracks, infirmary & prison cells.  We passed under the watchtowers, along the roll-call area & the tables where they ate… when they ate.

In the memorial museum, we spent hours reading about specific individuals that had either perished in the camp, or had survived & had provided an account of the hell that they endured.

We walked down to the execution trench, which was when my composure began to falter.  It begins to weaken again as I write this.

Standing there, one has no need of psychic abilities to feel it.

We can hear them, though they no longer have a voice.

We can see them, though they no longer have a form.

“The Nazis victimized some people for what they did, some for what they refused to do, some for what they were, and some for the fact that they were.” – John Conway

"Work Makes You Free"

“For your benefit, learn from our tragedy.  It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews.” -Simon Wiesenthal

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” -Viktor Frankl

“In Italy, the country where fascism was born, we have a particular relation with the Holocaust, but as a turning point in history it belongs to everybody in the world. It is a part of humanity.” – Roberto Benigni

“When I came to power, I did not want the concentration camps to become old age pensioners homes, but instruments of terror.” – Adolf Hitler

“We in the United States should be all the more thankful for the freedom and religious tolerance we enjoy. And we should always remember the lessons learned from the Holocaust, in hopes we stay vigilant against such inhumanity now and in the future.” - Charlie Dent

“Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they’re sending all the Jews….If it’s that bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they’re being gassed.” – Anne Frank

“When I teach about the Holocaust, I use it to try and get people to understand that the values that led to Hitler’s election and the theories behind the mass execution of Jews were also prominent and are prominent in American society.” – Ralph Leck

“… in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.” – Anne Frank

Sachsenhausen closed in May, 1945.  However, the hell went on inside its gates due to the camp being located in the Soviet Occupation Zone.  Because of this, there is no shortage of communist propaganda in the museum & information on the mass graves that were excavated after the fall of communism in East Germany.

Olivier & I stayed at the camp until shortly after the museum had closed.  We drove back to our room, stunned & worn out… not quite lucid, the entire experience slapping us with so much reality, that it all seemed somewhat surreal.

Neither one of was able to sleep that night, both of us haunted by dreams not only of what we saw, read & felt, but what really kept us awake was the “what if”.

What if it were us?  Would we speak up?

“The man who has no sense of history, is like a man who has no ears or eyes.” -Adolf Hitler

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Technocrati Tags: Germany, concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, history, Holocaust, museum, memorial, Anne Frank, Adolf Hitler, Roberto Benigni, John Conway, Simon Wiesenthal, Viktor Frankl, Ralph Leck, Charlie Dent, Martin Niemöller, First They Came, poem, quotes, travel, photo

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