Germany, day 35: Celle and Bergen-Belsen

Having finished the course, we continued in our tradition of taking trips on the weekends. This weekend, though, was a Friday day-trip to Celle and the memorial of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, a very sobering trip indeed.


Celle is a wonderful town with a very picturesque Altstadt / old part of town. There are many opportunities to shop and eat, but not always within the student budget. There was also a game store that sold Munchkin and Killer Bunnies in German, which I very much would have liked, but I regret that I did not have sufficient cash to do so.

We got small pizzas -- mine was broccoli and peppers -- from a window vendor.

I made the casual remark that, as Celle was so touristy, it contained unusually high concentrations of shorts, overweight people, and SUV's. I have a feeling that Americans are behind this, somehow.

The Hotel 9-3/4 is outside of the Altstadt, but is near the train station, heading toward the Altstadt. Yes, that's the Harry Potter font on the sign.


Hidden in the Altstadt is the third public drinking fountain we've found in Germany. There's algae growing in it, but it is nontheless an exciting find.

We had to take a bus to get to the Bergen-Belsen memorial. If you do not speak German, it may be difficult to inquire for aid in getting to it. Case in point: the professor went to the train station -- a knowledgable place for transportation -- and found a young female attendant who spoke English. As soon as he revealed that we wanted to go to the memorial, she switched into high-speed German. It's not something Germans are at all proud of. As it turned out, we were at the wrong bus stop, as the system had changed since the professor had last been to Celle.

Putting stones on a grave stone or marker is a Jewish traditon, and shows on every memorial plaque, stone, or monument.

I took quite a few pictures at Bergen-Belsen, most of which are of nature or of ruins. All of the old buildings of the camp were destroyed upon liberation, as they were disease-ridden. There are a great many mass burial mounds, which are not particuarly fascinating aesthetically.

A memorial mound. Each has a marker displaying the number of slain contained, if known.
Typical numbers range from 1000 to 5000.

As previously stated, the trip was very sobering.

I managed to take this picture from the speeding train. That's the sunset, over a city whose name I don't know. The trees along the track are very obstructing to the view and photography, but I managed.