MAUTHAUSEN

             My First Concentration Camp Visit 

Mauthausen is a WW II concentration camp; perhaps not as well known as some others, but still 159,000 people died there. Russia lost 32,000, Poland 30,000, and several other countries fewer numbers including 34 Americans.

This was my first of eventually four concentration camps that I’ve visited.

            Prisoners of War were transferred from Dachau, a German concentration camp, to build this camp. The site was chosen because of a nearby quarry. 186 steps led to and from the quarry. Every day 2000  people worked in the quarry. It’s hard to imagine how hard it must have been to carry heavy rocks from the quarry up all those steps all day long.

            A docent  told us, “Mauthausen was the first and largest concentration camp built in Austria. The name means Mother Camp.”

            This particular camp held both male and female prisoners as well as children. It also held social, political, criminal, and Jewish POWs. Each prisoner wore a colored triangle on his uniform. Red designated political prisoner, green social, black criminal, and all Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David below the triangle. Everyone also had a number tattooed on his arm.

            The Secret Service (SS) was in charge of this camp. The barracks had no heat to protect the prisoners from the cold winters.

            A guide continued, “All executions were carried out under the supervision of an SS doctor. Some were hanged, some injected, and many were gassed. The prisoners were told they were going to take a shower, and when the approximately 10 X 10 foot shower room was full of people the gas, instead of water,  was turned on in the overhead pipes.”

            It was a sobering experience to stand in that gas chamber. It gave me goose bumps and brought tears to many of our eyes.

            Next to the gas chamber was a room where gold fillings were extracted from teeth and skin was removed to be used in making lampshades. That very thought makes me shutter even today.

All the countries that lost people in this camp have erected a memorial in their honor. The memorials are all different, each powerful.

            There is a museum  inside one of the barracks where many pen and ink sketches  tell of the horrors which took place here. It took all of my willpower to look at them.

            Many visitors were present that day, many of them young people. Everyone was very quiet and subdued. The stillness was dramatic. It is good that the young, who were not living at that time, learn and not allow history to repeat itself.

The view of the countryside from the camp revealed the area to be a hilly, quiet, serene farming area.       The next day as we biked through the village, the beautiful countryside was overshadowed by the images of the previous day. Those images are etched in my memory forever.

WITLESS BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVE

                                  Puffins on a Cold Day

It was a cold windy day in Newfoundland when we set sail for the Reserve. I was grateful my jacket had an attached hood!

Three islands make up the reserve where the largest sanctuary of Atlantic puffins is located. Approaching Green Island the good natured fellow on the mike warned, “If you look up, keep your mouth shut as the birds fly overhead. There are thousands of birds here and they do not discriminate when it comes to expelling that little white stuff!”

            He continued to describe, “Puffins are small birds, only about eight inches long, and most people are surprised by their size. They have orange feet and  beak that has   gray .triangle  that is bordered with  a white stripe.  Their white breast is topped with a black coat. They are good swimmers and divers. Some people think they are penguins, but they are in no way related. They can hold a dozen fish in their beak when feeding their young.”

            Puffins live in burrows and that tends to kill tree and other roots. All the guano doesn’t help either. They mate for life and both parents sit on the egg and take care of the chick. The chicks are taught to toilet close to the burrow entrance, keeping their living quarters clean. The parents abandon the chick after 40 days. A week later the chick wanders out of the burrow and fledges in the moonlight under the cover of night. Their wings beat 300 times a minute to keep them in the air. An adult puffin returns to the same burrow year after year to lay one egg.

            The island is barren several meters above the water, but green after that with a few straggly trees on the top that provide nesting areas for storm petrels.

            The narrator continued, “Murrens nest on the ledges of Green Island and all over barren Gull Island. Murrens have no nest; they just lay their eggs on the edge. The eggs are sort of triangular shaped so they don’t roll around like oval ones do. The birds also cement the egg to the rock with guano. They live in huge tight-packed colonies on coastal cliffs and on other off-shore islands.”  The sky was covered with these little birds as we approached Gull Island.

            A large colony of kittiwakes also lives in the reserve. The smallest of the gull family, they appear to ski on the water. They are often referred to as ticklers as a pair of them fly so close together it seems as if they are tickling each other.

            Three kinds of whales migrate through the area. The captain was determined to find whales for us. We saw several blows. He said, “Whale watching is 90 percent patience and 10 percent luck. This morning the whales are diving very deep and blowing only about every half hour or so. They can stay submerged 35-40 minutes.”

            Toward the end of our cruise a momma and her calf played near the bow of the boat. The narrator commented, “Humpback whales are very social. Their average length is 35-40 feet, and the rule of thumb is they weigh 1000 pounds for each foot of length, so these whales weigh 35,000-40,000 pounds. They make quite a splash!

            “Fin whales, the second largest whale, are also found in the area. Their head is the size of a VW bug! We haven’t seen any yet this year. Grey whales migrate through these waters. They move fast and straight and care nothing about socializing.”

It was worth the breezy, rather rough ride to see all the birds in their natural habitat and it was a thrill to watch momma whale and her calf play off our bow!