Term III in Amsterdam: Kamp Amersfoort

I was slightly regretting not getting to a concentration camp while in Europe. I was talking to Brian about on Friday and he told me that there was on about 45 kilometers away! I had absolutely no idea so after some research, Emily and I decided we could go today since we didn't have any class until 2pm. After checking with our teachers, who were on board, we took the train to the town of Amersfoort, a small, pretty, quiet town in the country. Except on the edge of town is a Nazi transit camp used during WWII as a temporary camp for the Jews of the town and surrounding area before they were brought to death camps in Germany and Poland. We had some trouble getting to the Kamp because it is well hidden and not very well known, kind of a town secret. There is not much there, a small road overgrown on the sides, with a small side half hidden in the brush. The first thing we see as we walked down the road was the watch tower. While it was restored with posts with barbed wire surrounding it are original. Once we passed that we walked into an open courtyard where they made the prisoners stand in line for hours. To symbolize this are posts with barbed wire and rose bushes reaching up to the sky where each person stood. It was absolutely beautiful and touching. We then passed a monument in Dutch and found execution lane. This was a 350 meter straight walkway with tall earth mounds on each side that the prisoners were forced to build. We were the only ones on the Kamp and as we walked down the lane is silence the sun was shining, birds were chirping, bunnies were playing in the flowers on the sides- and I thought I was going to throw up. I was not about to shield myself from where I was, I made myself think about exactly where I was walking, that when I got to the end of this walk I would have been shot. Half way down my legs were shaking so much I could barely walk and by the time we got to the end, we both burst into tears. At the end of the lane is a 10-15 foot statue called The Stone Man, which is a thin man in prison clothes, a shaved head, his ribs showing, and a defiant look on his face, saying "You can kill me but you can never take my soul." We stood there in silence just looking up at him, I placed a flower at the base, said a prayer and just cried for everyone who had lost their lives there. It was the most touching and emotionally draining experience Ive ever had. It made me so thankful for everything I have, just the fact that it was a beautiful day made me feel undeserving. We then walked to a huge overturned tree stump that was starting to decay, however if you looked closely, it was riddled with bullets. Here, Nazi's would put prisoners up against the tree to shoot them. We found the old foundation of the original morgue building where people from the town could pick up the bodies of their relatives once they had been executed. There were not mass graves or cover up at this camp like there was at concentration or death camps because the Nazi's told the town this was a prison and those in the camp were seen as criminals and their death was just a part of that- definitely a different feel from many other larger camps. The buildings of the camp had been destroyed which is understandable since I can't even imagine how those who live in the town of Amersfoort feel- some who were alive then still live there. If I ever come back to Europe I will definitely get to another camp because while I was thoroughly depressed and emotionally drained for the rest of the day and just writing about it gets me choked up again, it was the best experience Ive ever had. It not only taught me about what was happening in the camps, but about myself as well and exactly how much Im blessed and everything I take for granted.

We got to school before lunch and ran the last double block of the day. Today was the last time we met with Ken's 7th grade class and they were able to have one more work day on their assessment which is due at the end of the day tomorrow. We walked around and helped different students, although I stayed mostly with the students Ive been working with the past few days. It was really great to see how they have progressed and the where they have trouble and where they excel. Over the weekend Emily and I bought a pair of unfinished wooden clogs and asked all the students to sign each of them for us. They wrote some really sweet messages and I got really sad saying bye to them. They are amazing kids and I cant believe I wont see them anymore. It was nice to see that they were sad too when we told them we were leaving on Thursday! As they were leaving one by one they came up to us and offered out their hands to shake. At first I couldn't comprehend what was happening, that a 12 year old was offering their hand saying "Thank you so much for everything" or "Its been such a pleasure meeting you and working with you" It was amazing, Ken didn't say anything to them, it was completely on their own. They are going to grow up to be smart, kind, beautiful adults and I'll really miss them. I really wish we had remembered to get a picture with all of them!