Dortmund, Germany

Match report: Borrisa Dortmund v Mainz.

Football dominates sport in Europe, even more so than rugby attracts

the headlines in New Zealand. Johan and I managaged to get tickets 

to watch Borrisa Dortmund play Mainz in the opening match of the 

Bundesliga.

Their stadium is the largest freestanding stadium in Europe, holding 

81,500 fans. Of these 56,000 are held by season ticket holders.

Inadvertently we bought tickets at the end of the ground where there 

is standing room only. It is known as 'Diegelbe Wand' or the yellow 

wall. 

Twenty five thousand big sausage eating and beer swilling German fans 

were packed in an hour before the game started. That hour comprised 

continuous singing and saluting and chanting.

It was deafening.

'We'll never walk alone' even got a rendition in honour of Dortmund's

former coach,Jurgen Klopp.

For the record Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 2 - 1. The Mainz fans 

received an armed police escort away from the ground at the end of 

proceedings. We left to give our ears a breather.

Walking to the ground 90 minutes before kick off.

Johan getting frisked.

60 minutes before kick off.

Mainz fans getting excited before kick off

Finally some on field action.

The penalty that is just about to give Dortmund the lead and send the crowd delirious.

Some big Mainz fans receiving a police escort away from the ground.

Hamelin, Germany

We concluded our visits to Grimms Brothers settings with a visit to Hamelin. No rats were seen, alive or floating, but the architecture reminded us yet again how beautiful the German villages are.

The Pied Piper making an appearance at church.

Hamelin from the top of the church spire.

We enjoyed lunch at the 'Rat Catchers' house.

Berlin Zoo

Johan is our source for all information regarding animals, he made a fantastic guide for our visit to Berlin Zoo. We spent most of the day marveling at animals we had never seen before.

Near the end of our visit we came across a kea, as in just one kea enclosed in an environment that resembled the Australian Outback. It looked old, sad and lonely. For us it triggered an interesting discussion about the ethics of keeping animals in captivity. Balancing our own enjoyment with the ethical treatment of animals.

An artic wolf

Asian black bear

Cheeky otter

Berlin Wall

We did not get to spend much time in Berlin, but did manage to visit the Berlin Wall memorial.

Visiting the former Soviet controlled countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, The Czech Republic and Slovakia we have witnessed the economic impact that the Soviets exerted on these countries. The memorial brought home the brutality of the regimes that controlled post war Eastern Europe.

Control tower looking westward.

Gret abd Johan feeling safe in the former West Germany

Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, Germany

Ravensbruck was a concentration camp that held exclusively women and children. Of the 130,000 inmates, approximately 55,000 perished. The inmates came from all over Europe, although with a majority of Jewish and Polish people.

The camp was on a similar scale to Stutthof, but bizarrely was juxtaposed in a most beautiful setting beside a lake. Like Stutthof, many acts of random and graphic violence were perpetrated against the prisoners, similar to the scene in Schindler's List, where Steven Spielberg represented this by the random assassination of Jewish people.

The Germans have erected moving memorials and converted part of the remaining buildings to a commercial use. Despite this conversion, the camp feels like a place of deep reflection.

The gates of Hell

Memorial

Where the camp huts formerly stood.

Where the prisoners worked.

Another memorial to honour the victims.

Crematorium.

Gdansk, Poland

As you may have noticed Tony has a fleeting interest in visiting World War Two sites, consequently we trekked to the Gdansk to visit the site where the first shots were fired on 1st September, 1939. Poland suffered more than any other country in WW2, with Gdansk itself being largely destroyed.

 Poland has surprised us in many ways, and we regret not spending longer here. The countryside reminds us a lot of the rolling plains we found throughout much of France.

The seafront at Gdansk

Johan leaning out over the Baltic.

A WW2 bunker

Sunset

 

Stutthof Concentration Camp

Situated at the top of Poland, Stutthof was the first concentration camp outside of Germany. It was a place of great suffering. The camp held men, women and children including Polish, Jewish, communist and other dissidents. Teachers were some of the first people imprisoned by the Nazis when they invaded Poland.

Out of about 110,000 inmates, 85,000 were murdered by the Nazis. Many died from starvation and illness, others were gassed and incinerated. It is said many of the people weighed less than the german shepherds guarding them when they died.

Near the end of the war, with the Soviet army approaching, 50,000 inmates were lead on a forced march towards Germany. This became known as the 'Death March'. Over 25,000 people perished, including 4,000 that were forced into the Baltic, then machine gunned.

The camp was also infamous for providing bodies to 'Dr'  Rudolf Spanner who made PJS - 'Pure Jewish Soap' from their fat. For this act of unimaginable cruelty Spanner escaped any consequences through the Nuremburg trial process.

The camp now presents a very detailed account of what happened there during World War Two. It is a place of silence, respect and remembrance of the victims. The camp was bombed by the Soviets so many of the buildings have gone.

Nazi officers' quarters, built by the prisoners

The shoe collection

A view of the gas chamber. In addition to this building train wagons were also converted to gas chambers to hasten the killing.

Modern memorial containing human ashes.

A photo of teachers being arrested in Gdansk. Both these gentlemen were later imprisoned in Stutthof and executed.