Concentration Camp Tour

On April 27 we toured a Nazi Concentration Camp in Sandhofen, which is about 15 minutes from Mannheim. VISUM sponsored this tour. Christi Smith and Steffi Horn translated very well for us during the tour. Steffi is a student in my course and is highly involved in organizations which aim to provide sociohistorical accounts of the Holocaust by touring Europe ensuring that historical sites are well preserved and individual legacies live on. Currently, the Concentration Camp is an elementary school with the museum of the camp in the basement of the school. The museum is very well representative of the camp. This particular camp housed about 2,000 boys and men from Poland. Interestingly, this camp was owned and operated by the Germany company Daimler-Benz, which is more commonly known to us as Mercedes-Benz. As most individuals know, this conglomerate is one of the most lucrative auto companies owning Mercedes, Maybach, Chrysler, Smart, and holdings in many truck, bus, and diesel companies. This was quite shocking to me. More interesting is that Daimler-Benz was founding in 1926. Think about how much this company benefited from the slave labor of Jews during the 1930s and 1940s. Another interesting fact is that the first car was driven around the Mannheim city center. This car was a Benz. The owner drove the car around while his son ran beside the car putting more gasoline into the automobile. Collectively, the historical consequences of slave labor during tragic genocides such as the Holocaust (which murdered an estimated 5.7 million Jews) and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (which murdered over 20 million Africans) not only have marginalized effects but also privileged effects. In this context, one of the most lucrative auto companies is still reaping the benefits of its participation in the Holocaust. We must never, ever forget and always educate those around us including the generations to come about these human atrocities which have institutional and social consequences rooted in racial prejudice and discrimination.