Silence and Respect
Wednesday was the most difficult day of the trip. We went back into France and visited the Struthof Concentration camp. The students were in awe of the size and severity of the pain, punishment, and hate. I dislike using the word “awe” because I used it in the context of the Cathedral on Monday and today’s context is the opposite emotion but the word applies. The subdued mood of the kids told the story of what they were seeing. It is one thing to see movies, textbooks, and hear teachers talk about these things but it is something completely different to stand in a room where thousands of people died for no other reason than their heritage. In the span of three days we have seen the great heights man can reach in Strasbourg and the great depths man can reach at Struthof. I have not had a chance to put up all of the pictures I would like. When I get back at the beginning of July I will upload all of the pictures on my website and picture location. I have a few there now at http://www.computerteach.org but the time it takes to upload is very long so I will save that for later. I currently have over 1500 pictures from just my camera. I expect to have well over 3000 by the time I get some from students and other teachers. The picture for today represents what we saw and felt today. It is the barbed wire fence with the beautiful mountains in the background. That is the ultimate irony of have such ugliness encased in such beauty:
