Pre-Impressions
I am really looking forward to these two tours. I am expecting to be very moved by the tours and being in a place where people were kept as prisoners. Visiting Breendonk will be a very powerful experience and I expect to feel sad after hearing about the experiences of the people who were forced to live there. At the Kazerne Dossin Museum, I expect that we will see photographs that were taken at various concentration camps, in Jewish ghettos, or at military forts. I also expect to see other types of exhibits, such as interactive ones where I can learn about people who survived the concentration camps, or even videos explaining the Holocaust.
Post-Impressions
I really enjoyed both of the tours that we took today. The Breendonk tour was very powerful, just as I had expected it to be. I enjoyed reading more about the Holocaust when we were waiting for the tour to start; the pictures and descriptions that they had were very informative and gave me some good background information that helped refresh my memory of what I had learned about the Holocaust in past history classes. I was glad that our tour guide tried to make us feel as if we were actually prisoners at the camp. This was probably my favorite part of the tour because it made the whole experience more realistic. This made everything seem to “come to life” and helped make the tour more powerful. I could just imagine the terror that the prisoners faced every day, along with the horrible conditions that they had to endure. I also enjoyed touring the Kazerne Dossin Museum and learning more about the Holocaust in general. While I have already studied a little bit about the Holocaust in the past, it was great to refresh my memory on it, which helped to reinforce the impact that the tour of the camp had on me. The photographs at this museum helped me to realize just how real all of the events were that took place. I was surprised at some of the things that I saw and learned while on the tour. For example, I was surprised that the conditions at the holding camp were still bad, even though it was not a death camp. The prisoners were kept in close, tight quarters, and endured hard conditions such as showering once a week and then standing outside in the freezing wind to dry, or eating food that was extremely low in calories, which was not good since they had to do hard manual labor all day.
There is a strong connection between the Holocaust and economics. Hitler was in charge of greatly expanding Germany's economy. He felt threatened by many business owners, especially Jews in particular, because their businesses were usually very successful. The economy in Europe was impacted because many people were placed in concentration camps, which took away from the labor force outside of the camps. This also resulted in less consumers in society, because millions of them were locked up or even killed, and could not participate in everyday economic activities. However, there was an increase in economic activity as a result of the concentration camps. Many camps used the prisoners for manual labor and were able to make money from the goods that they produced or labor that they provided. It is clear that economics played a major role in the events surrounding the Holocaust.
Today’s tours tie in well with many of the concepts that we have studied in COM. One concept that immediately comes to my mind is the ethical imperative. This seems like a topic that is always discussed when talking about the Holocaust. Many people will ask how these people could actually do these horrible things to other people, such as imprisoning them, making them endure horrible conditions, and even killing them. It leads many of us to ask if their actions were ethical, or if these ethical principles vary from culture to culture, which could explain why the Nazis were okay with their actions. These tours also tie in with the economic imperative. By imprisoning people in labor camps, the Nazis were able to increase their workforce and force the prisoners to work for them so that they could make money. However, this also took away from the workforce outside of the concentration camps, because many business owners were forced to leave their businesses and homes as they were taken away to the camps. Finally, these tours relate to the demographic imperative. The demographics in many regions throughout Europe changed as Jewish people, among others, were killed off. Additionally, many Jews or others under attack fled to other countries, which would result in the diversification of those countries.
http://www.nazism.net/about/adolf_hitler/#Economics_and_culture
I am really looking forward to these two tours. I am expecting to be very moved by the tours and being in a place where people were kept as prisoners. Visiting Breendonk will be a very powerful experience and I expect to feel sad after hearing about the experiences of the people who were forced to live there. At the Kazerne Dossin Museum, I expect that we will see photographs that were taken at various concentration camps, in Jewish ghettos, or at military forts. I also expect to see other types of exhibits, such as interactive ones where I can learn about people who survived the concentration camps, or even videos explaining the Holocaust.
Post-Impressions
I really enjoyed both of the tours that we took today. The Breendonk tour was very powerful, just as I had expected it to be. I enjoyed reading more about the Holocaust when we were waiting for the tour to start; the pictures and descriptions that they had were very informative and gave me some good background information that helped refresh my memory of what I had learned about the Holocaust in past history classes. I was glad that our tour guide tried to make us feel as if we were actually prisoners at the camp. This was probably my favorite part of the tour because it made the whole experience more realistic. This made everything seem to “come to life” and helped make the tour more powerful. I could just imagine the terror that the prisoners faced every day, along with the horrible conditions that they had to endure. I also enjoyed touring the Kazerne Dossin Museum and learning more about the Holocaust in general. While I have already studied a little bit about the Holocaust in the past, it was great to refresh my memory on it, which helped to reinforce the impact that the tour of the camp had on me. The photographs at this museum helped me to realize just how real all of the events were that took place. I was surprised at some of the things that I saw and learned while on the tour. For example, I was surprised that the conditions at the holding camp were still bad, even though it was not a death camp. The prisoners were kept in close, tight quarters, and endured hard conditions such as showering once a week and then standing outside in the freezing wind to dry, or eating food that was extremely low in calories, which was not good since they had to do hard manual labor all day.
There is a strong connection between the Holocaust and economics. Hitler was in charge of greatly expanding Germany's economy. He felt threatened by many business owners, especially Jews in particular, because their businesses were usually very successful. The economy in Europe was impacted because many people were placed in concentration camps, which took away from the labor force outside of the camps. This also resulted in less consumers in society, because millions of them were locked up or even killed, and could not participate in everyday economic activities. However, there was an increase in economic activity as a result of the concentration camps. Many camps used the prisoners for manual labor and were able to make money from the goods that they produced or labor that they provided. It is clear that economics played a major role in the events surrounding the Holocaust.
Today’s tours tie in well with many of the concepts that we have studied in COM. One concept that immediately comes to my mind is the ethical imperative. This seems like a topic that is always discussed when talking about the Holocaust. Many people will ask how these people could actually do these horrible things to other people, such as imprisoning them, making them endure horrible conditions, and even killing them. It leads many of us to ask if their actions were ethical, or if these ethical principles vary from culture to culture, which could explain why the Nazis were okay with their actions. These tours also tie in with the economic imperative. By imprisoning people in labor camps, the Nazis were able to increase their workforce and force the prisoners to work for them so that they could make money. However, this also took away from the workforce outside of the concentration camps, because many business owners were forced to leave their businesses and homes as they were taken away to the camps. Finally, these tours relate to the demographic imperative. The demographics in many regions throughout Europe changed as Jewish people, among others, were killed off. Additionally, many Jews or others under attack fled to other countries, which would result in the diversification of those countries.
http://www.nazism.net/about/adolf_hitler/#Economics_and_culture