Nah but when you put it the way you did I can completely understand why someone would want to see it.
When based in Germany I was based in a place called Hohne, a couple of minutes drive from Belsen and I completely agree with you that it was a bleak place to visit but one I am glad I did. I came out of the camp area into the museum part and it was very thought provoking. I was in tears in the car going home.
A good starting place to get the feel about WW2 is to visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) it list every place in the world where British and commonwealth troops are buried. There are many cemeteries containing a few to thousands, especially in Northern Germany, the Reichswald one near Kleve contains the RAF and Army casualties. Wherever I have been on holidayor visited I have looked the cemeteries out to pay respects.
Poland is excellent for sites to visit. If you are ever in Poznan get to the CWG cemetery and see Roger Bushells grave. Or if you ever go to Prague take a bus to terezin.
I would like to see some of these sites, maybe it's something that should be done when at school and teach the kids just what actually happened. Nothing to do with the UK, (except they along with the rest of the world sat back watching and did nothing) i once went to see the killing fields in Cambodia, and s21 prison where thousands were murdered.
The schools today teach the kids nothing about World War 2. It's not very politically correct to teach kids about the horrors that both the Nazis and the Russian Communists did when there are more political correct lessons on Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela. And although civil rights need to be addressing British History is swept under the carpet. There is a generation of kids now who only get information about WW2 from badly written American war films... Great teaching... give them a pay rise. rant over.
In the next few years we will be losing the people who saved the European way of life and with that the history books will be closed. We faded as a great nation through force of circumstances of two world wars, back stabbing political upheavals, and those who should have the most blame will be running Europe through the economy.
Granted they eventually played their part but only because of the terrain, and their devastating loss of life was down to Stalin who reckoned 5 men for one rifle was enough to keep the Germans at bay. The help in materiel and technology all came from UK and USA. No Murmansk convoys, no Russian war supplies such as planes and trucks to mobilise his armies. There was always a second front supplied by RAF Bomber Command tying up German supplies otherwise Russia would have been overrun, therefore we made good allies for the job in hand, just happened Uncle Joe was more sacrificial about his lads.
I've been to the US WWII war cemetery at Madingly near Cambridge, obviously a sombre place, a load of young blokes buried there having been killed in 1944. Was passing through northern France on a coach a few weeks ago and saw from the motorway a sign for the Canadian war memorial which commemorates the WW1 battle of Vimy Ridge. Went online to have a look at the website, more sombre stuff.
Then again it may not have lasted so long had the Russians not signed the Molotov Rippentrop pact in 1939 with the Germans. A fact that the Russian leave out of history teaching in its schools. In fact, had the Russian helped the Poles instead of hindering (Katyn,for example) then the war could have been over considerably sooner. Here's a friend of mine who would probably disagree with you to. http://translate.google.com/transla...tp://ahm.1944.pl/Gustaw_Budzynski/2/?q=gustaw
We went to Auschwitz & Birkenau earlier this year, it was absolutely amazing. The Auschwitz tour (we had a private guide for 3 of us as opposed to the headphone guided group tour) was a bit like a museum tour, a little too rehearsed up until around the last 15 minutes, where some of the less-glamourised parts were revealed. I won't spoil anything for you though, just go for yourself it's definitely worth the private tour. Birkenau was something else though, the volumes and figures you have to process makes it seem a bit warped but the walk down the train line just makes you feel like you were there, it's eerie, it's cold (we went in February but I don't mean weather wise!), it's disturbing, it just feels like nothing before. I was with a couple of Jews as well which made it a little more interesting for me.
I was proud at how well the British Memorial stone between the gas chambers was decorated and cared for.
As harsh as it sounds, I didn't like the idea that they were even there. I don't think it should have been touched, the whole area for me needed to be left as it was found. The graffiti in the 'living quarters' was ridiculous, how stupid people can be to deface a place like that.
Unfortunately, The world is full of idiots. The British (Commonwealth) do a fantastic job of looking after the fallen wherever. It always makes me proud to be British when I see how well cared for our war graves are. Souda Bay in Crete has to be one best it's location is one of the most beautiful places in the world. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Locati...r_Cemetery-Souda_Chania_Prefecture_Crete.html
I've been to France & seen the sites where the Battle Of The Somme took place. You get an amazing sense of reality & the fact that almost 1 million men died there. Would love to visit Suvla Bay in Turkey where the Battle Of Gallipoli took place. The poor Anzacs, that's Australia & New Zeland Army Corps, got blew away to hell. Complete & utter carnage. Would like to visit the nazi death camps to, I can imagine it being very emotional & poignant.
I beg to differ fella. GCSE History is based on modern history and has done since I was at school, it covers. World War One and Two, The Cold War, Britain 1905-1951, Germany 1918-1939, Russia/USSR 1905-1941, USA 1919-1941(incl the depression and civil rights movement), Vietnam 1954-1975 and Northern Ireland 1965-1985 It was my GCSE History that led to me falling in love with Modern History and got to travel the a battle fields of Europe thanks to my school. I didn't get taught Northern Ireland, that's new. Schools teach it.
