Vivian Hamilton wrote: > One idea that jumped immediately into my mind when I read your request > is the Caen Memorial on the Normandy coast of France. It's a terrific > museum that documents WWII and, particularly relevant to psych, how > the Treaty of Versailles and the post-WWI climate set the stage for > Hitler's rise to power. As I recall, it really draws you into the > psychological perspective of the Germans, French,and other Europeans > during this time; it was very powerful. It's also close to the > Normandy beaches, which might offer an opportunity to compare > Americans' reactions to WWII vs. Vietnam vs. the current "war," > perhaps...?
If you want to include this sort of thing, I would also recommend going to the Hadamar Institute. It is a psychiatric hospital located near Lindberg and Frankfurt, Germany in the town of Hadamar (I can provide rail directions and then walking directions from the train station). As today, the hospital was a psychiatric facility in the 30s and become one of the sites of Hitler's euthanasia projects. On the first floor of the institute is a museum with photographs and documents. The basement has the old gas chamber and more memorial/museum. Out back is memorial garden for the victims. Nothing is translated into English but most of the signs are self-explanatory and one can get the essence of the messages if you know just a bit of German. > > Also, you might choose one of the Holocaust museums for a look at the > social psychology of the Holocaust. I've been to Dachau (near > Munich), and found it deeply moving and sobering. The only drawback > was that some of the primary documents and displays weren't translated > into English, so you'd need someone who spoke German to translate > those for your group. Even without that, though, my group found it a > powerful experience. Dachau is one of the most sanitized and certainly one of the smallest of the concentration camp memorials and museums. I would recommend Mauthausen if you don't want to go to far east. It is located near Linz, Austria (not that far from Vienna) and also close is the Hartheim Institute (Schloss castle) which was another euthanasia center with gas chamber for killing of the mentally ill as well as prisoners from Mauthausen (although it had its own gas chamber). The Hartheim Institute again functions as a residential psychiatric treatment center. Almost all of the signs are in English, German, and Hebrew. Other camps which I one could visit would be Buchenwald (near Erfurt, Germany), Terezin (Theresienstadt, the model ghetto) and the Small Fortress (near Prague), and Bergen Belsen (near Hannover). At these, almost all of the signs are translated into English. However, if you only want to include one camp memorial/museum and you can venture into Poland - go to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most people don't realize how huge this camp was (40 square kilometers) or have a real understanding of what occurred there. A trip to this site provides a brief glimpse as to what occurred here. One needs to take at least two days to see both parts of the remaining camp. Krakow itself is a fascinating city to visit. Linda -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Book Review Editor, H-Genocide Associate Professor - Psychology Coordinator - Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO 63119 Main Webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
