It takes a special kind of sick bastard among the sick bastards to hang children

Such an interesting art exhibition at #StNikolai church in #Hamburg by @svenellerbrock.bsky.social, on traces of the sub-camps of Auschwitz which still exist as forgotten places in the landscape. Sven, please DM me.

The #Stadthaus in #Hamburg is a former police station and today a memorial site which discusses the role of the police in crimes and genocide. The city seems to have a thriving memorial culture.

I visited #BullenhauserDamm this morning, a subcamp of @neuengamme-mem.bsky.social, a site of forced labour and of the murder of 20 children who had been medically experimented upon. The ‘doctor’ who killed the kids continued to practice after the war, producing his ‘scientific notes’ at his trial.

I came across this collection of 68(!) #Stolpersteine in #Hamburg - the biggest collection in one spot I’ve ever seen. Excuse the sub-dappled photo!

Let me know your thoughts. I actually find this mode of display quick powerful and touching.

Any plans in the offing in that direction?

Excellent documentation centre at @belsenmemorial.bsky.social. Where can I read more about the excavations that yielded these objects on display?

There are still fragments of artefacts on the ground at #BergenBelsen. This is both surprising and unsurprising. The ground had recently been churned up by large vehicles. I wonder why? @belsenmemorial.bsky.social?

I tried out the augmented reality iPads at #BergenBelsen but they were clunky and unrealistic. @waitmanwbeorn.com would rather see your digital modelling on these iPads.

It was a 7 hour round journey to get to Bergen-Belsen from Hamburg, and a cold, damp day. Rather unnerving to hear regular gunfire from the nearby NATO base.

Would you rather see the inside of a former #POW camp barrack look like this today, or restored? Which is more honest? More authentic? More atmospheric? More original? I think there’s a lot to be said for this mode of display at #Sandbostel. I wonder what former POWs would want?

Inside a barrack block at #Sandbostel where the floorboards had collapsed. The archaeologist in me looked at the traces of foundations. #archaeology #POWs.

Visited the 1990s #Hamburg-Harburg memorial against fascism. People had to sign their name on a lead pillar as it was lowered into the ground over time. It was also covered in graffiti and is behind a locked glass door now. It sadly wouldn’t last a day today, which is deeply sad.

Good to see #Jersey’s Frankie Le Villio in the exhibition at #Sandbostel today (bottom row, third from the left). He came to Sandbostel in 1945 from #Neuengamme concentration camp and was rescued by other Brits in the camp. Frankie died of tuberculosis in 1946. www.frankfallaarchive.org

In #Sandbostel today, and what a contrast from #Neuengamme! Barrack blocks in a state of decay and collapse. I liked it - it seemed an honest and authentic way to present the past, although there were many phases of reuse, like Neuengamme.

Interesting to see #Alderney acknowledged at #Neuengamme Gedenkstätte, which was its parent camp.

This small house is where the commandant of #Neuengamme lived with his 5 kids, and an open-plan garden with a clear and close view of prisoners carrying out brutal forced labour nearby. What did those kids see? What did they think? 🤯

I’m at #Gedenkstätte #Neuengamme today. There’s an interesting artistic feature in front of a cattle truck: a concrete area with footprints of 80 people to show how crowded it was in the carriage.

The Hannoverscher Bahnhof Denkmal is a memorial at the former station (no longer in existence) in Hamburg from where Jews, Roma and Sinti were deported. A short run of railway tracks are preserved along with all identified names of the deported. #Holocaust #denkmal #Hannoverscher #Roma

I’ve arrived in Hamburg to visit 3 sites of Holocaust heritage (with some extras) in 3 days. After arrival I visited the St Nicholas church, destroyed in WWII and now existing as an open air ruin of sorts, similar to Coventry cathedral. #WWII #ruins #coventry

Well, your pose lacks only a wand …

Waitman, you look more like Dumbledore here. A younger version, I grant you.

The proximity to violence: the experiences of channel islanders in Alderney during the German occupation, 1940–1945 The Channel Islands were occupied by German forces in the early summer of 1940. Unlike Guernsey and Jersey, the population of Alderney had almost wholly evacuated to the UK. This left the island em...

My latest article is out, open access:
'The proximity of violence: the experiences of Channel Islanders in Alderney during the German Occupation, 1940-1945'. It asks: what did they witness, experience & tell to war crimes investigators, and was this collaboration?
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Well, quite. Even I’m envying my own stroopwaffel pics as I’ve eaten them all now. 😁

My trip comprised 3 stroopwafels, 1 conference, 1 Nazi prison, 1 girl in a pearl earring and a sprinkling of (well, 2) Eurostars. In no particular order, of course.

The saddest part of every journey made on Eurostar … going home!

I am a big believer in sampling the cultural heritage wherever I go. Nothing like warm, fresh stroopwafels! #stroopwafels #TheHague #culturalheritage #vanshaik

A very interesting morning in the Oranjehotel, a former Nazi prison in The Hague. Places like this are so important today in promoting the imports of democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law. #Oranjehotel #TheHague

Very happy to get a chance to talk about the IHRA @theihra.bsky.social charter for Safeguarding Sites here in The Hague at the meeting of international camp committees and Amicales. It will help all sites find a way to find good solutions for the future #SafeguardingSites