Photo By Spc. Jesus Menchaca | A Soldier assigned to 7th Army Training Command tours the grounds of the Flossenbuerg...... read more read more
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FLOSSENBUERG, GERMANY — On Monday Sept. 20, Soldiers and staff from 7th Army Training Command participated in a staff ride and educational seminar designed for U.S. Army Soldiers stationed near Grafenwoehr, Germany, at the Flossenbuerg Concentration Camp Memorial (FCCM), Flossenbuerg, Germany. This was the first seminar in a series of staff rides facilitating community outreach and understanding between the Bavarian and military communities.
The staff ride began with a guided tour of the site’s topography and history by FCCM staff. This included a comparison of the camp in 1945 with the memorial and surrounding area today.
Throughout the tour, FCCM staff provided details on different aspects of the camp, such as the prisoner population and their living conditions, the Schutzstaffel (SS), and the role of the local civilians. Soldiers and staff participated by asking questions and sharing perspectives on the locations and archive materials shown during the tour. Outdoor sites throughout the tour included the footprint of the camp and the outdoor memorial that included the chapel, valley of death, and the crematorium. Inside one of the remaining original buildings, the Soldiers and staff were guided through the permanent exhibit that included the laundry, processing area, and shower room.
“You could [feel] that in the shower room, the suffering and the hatred was sort of baked into the structures and the ground,” said Mark Director, 7th ATC G-2.
In the afternoon, Soldiers and staff had an opportunity to reflect and discuss what they learned during the tour through a seminar focusing on the spring of 1945, when U.S. troops reached and liberated the camp as well as numerous death marches. This facilitated a deeper understanding of the perspectives of the U.S. Army Soldiers who liberated the camp, the survivors, and the civilian communities at the end of World War II through archival photos, letters, interviews, and videos.
Breaking out into small groups, Soldiers and staff reviewed the materials and presented what they learned. They discussed the liberation not just as a singular event, but also the beginning of a longer process of confrontation, documentation, re-education, re-settling, and understanding that reverberates today.
“There are so many different facets to take into account. It is easy to say ‘these people over there did this,’ but you have to at least try to see the people involved,” said Director. “It is so much bigger than the good guys and the bad guys.”
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.24.2021 09:38 |
| Story ID: | 405962 |
| Location: | FLOSSENBUERG, DE |
| Web Views: | 185 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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