Salzberg to Prauge

Another new country today! Today was supposed to be the Eagles' nest tour, but unfortunately, it's closed. Bec and Paulo decided we should go see a concentration camp instead. We drove for a little while through austria before we got to Mauthausen concentration camp. They gave us a free audio guide link so we could go do it on our own. I've always been really interested in WWII history, so i was happy I had the opportunity to do this even though it was tough. Pearse and I left and did it at our own pace. immediately as you walk through the front gate, also the only gate, you can feel the weight of the seriousness and sadness of everything that happened here. Mauthausen concentration camp was a level 3 camp, making it one of the wost camps to be sent to. Awswitz was a level 2 camp. More people died in Awswitz, but you were more likely to die if you were sent to Mauthausen. Over 190,000 people died in the 7 years it was open. People were forced to work while malnourished and sick. If you became too sick to work and "useless," you would be executed. The prisoners would be stripped shaved and showered when they first arrived at the camp. That's the only shower they would be allowed to have. Except for once in a while, you might be escorted to shower. One of the most fucked up facts was sometimes the gaurds would escort the prisoners to have a shower and the prisoners would be excited but they didn't know they were being escorted into a gas chamber. The gas chambers and showers were designed very similarly. The prisoners wouldn't even know until the gas was already pouring in. At one point, Pearse and I stopped and looked down to read a sign. It was talking about the weak inmates being hung instead of being gassed, then it told us we were standing under the apparatus used. We both looked up at the same time, absolutely speechless. Around the corner were some gas chambers. It just gives you the chills looking around inside of them. We made it to the crematorium, where they had an incinerator still set up. It had flowers laid out on the stretcher with pictures and letters to all the people. Pearse and I just looked at each other silently. Both of us had tears welled up in our eyes when we saw this. Walking through this section of the camp was so difficult, you really see how terrible these camps were. Of course, we knew camps were bad, but walking through this one just puts it into a whole other perspective for me. After we toured the camp there was a museum with some really cool artifacts there. There was officers' clothing and prisoners' clothing as well. There was lots to read about how Mauthausen was built and how the Americans liberated it. As well as old videos of survivors talking about their experiences. It was a lot less common, but there was also a camp for women. This lady managed to survive 3 different camps every time she was transferred. One of her friends just happened to be transferred as well. This clip I was watching was from an American talk show. The host was asking the former prisoner about how long its been since she saw her friend. She said it had been about 4 years, and then the show brought her out, they hugged and cried a little bit and after a few minutes the host asked how long it had been since she had seen her brother. They had been separated for over 10 years and she didn't even know if he was alive. They brought him out as well, and her reaction was so hard to watch. I actually just staright up stopped watching because I was about to start crying. I couldn't even imagine how that must feel for her. Before we left the museum, we had one room in the basement of the museum to check out. We walked into a room with no lights except for a huge long black table with everyone's name illuminated white. They had every person's name who died on this table. For the final nail in the coffin to put it into perspective on how terrible these camps are, we had to look at all the names laid out. This camp wasn't just used for Jewish people. It was used for anyone who wasn't hitlers ideal human. They executed homosexuals, handicaps, Spanish, Jews, and anyone against the 3rd Reich. Jews were just treated worse than anybody else. The last story we heard about Mauthausen was that one day, 500 Russian POWs tried to escape at once. They put wet blankets on the electric fence to short them and ran into the foggy night. 20 of the sick prisoners who stayed behind were killed immediately by the SS. After that, the 500 escapees were hunted like animals. Apparently, prisoners from the prison could hear gunshots in the surrounding trees and mountains for days afterward. Of the 500 escapees, only 11 survived. It was just disgusting. This is only one of the camps in this area as well. There are lots of Mauthausen sub camps. Pearse and I slowly made our way back to the bus where it was the first time I've seen the bus dead quiet. Nobody said a word. The only noise being made was a few people crying. I showed up thinking I would leave thinking "wow that was really cool to see that history," but I left thinking, "what the fuck" it was a lot to take in. The bus ride for the next 2 hours was silent. After everybody had some time to reflect on the bus, we stopped at a McDonald's just inside of the czechia border. After eating, I managed to get a little shut eye. I'm gonna be honest, the countryside was so plain and boring to look at. It's like driving Edmonton to Red Deer with a couple of hills once in a while. When I woke up, we were pretty much just outside the hostel, and still, I was like, this place blows its ugly and cold. We dropped our shit in the room and had a quick power nap because we are still really sick. It's never ending. When I woke up, I could feel Pearse's snoring shake the entire hostel, so I figured he probably needed some more rest. Cass told me to come meet at a bar she was at, which was an hour walk from the hostel. I decided to walk so I could see some more of the city. Im glad I did because I realized prauge was actually beautiful. Plus I just put my music in and had some alone time which is much needed right now. A couple of other people from the contiki ended up at the same bar as us, and we all go a flight of shots. 6 full shots lined up lol. How are they even allowed to sell those. After downing them, we went to a 5 story club with only 2 floors open. It was actually a lot busier than I thought it would be. I'm glad it wasn't dead because even though Prauge is cheap, it still costs almost €15 or 250 Czech krone just to get in the door. Lots of people from contiki came in and danced there all night. The bottom floor was dance music and the second floor was oldies. We stayed till closing at 4:00 and took some electric scooters back to the hostel. Their pretty fun when you're sauced up lol. Looking ahead at the next few nights, we have a party night tomorrow here in prauge, and for the next 4 nights, we are in some of the biggest party cities in Europe before the end of the contiki tour. I only took a picture of the outside of the Mauthausen concentration camp.Read more