I took this picture at Dachau, a concentration camp outside of Munich, in the spring of 2002; it is a memorial to those who died here and elsewhere and the banner reads 'Never again' in four languages.
Even though it was my second trip to a concentration camp and even though I already knew what I was in for, I still was not prepared for the overwhelming echo of suffering, of pain, and horror that must have gone on here. Auschwitz was but one of many concentration camps set up by Nazi Germany and it is the most infamous for over a million people died -- mostly Jews -- died in the gas chambers or by other methods, some of which are too horrible to even contemplate.
It is not easy to visit a concentration camp and see how terrible human beings can be to each other, but I recommend it; only by walking on such ground can you truly feel the true enormity of what happened.
Et je suis revenue
Ainsi vous ne saviez pas,
vous,
qu'on revient de là-bas
On revient de là-bas
et même de plus loin
-- Charlotte Delbo
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