| Day 12: Lessons of History. Today we'll drive to Austria's magnificent capital of Vienna, stopping en route to visit sobering Mauthausen, the Nazi concentration camp.
We almost didn't make it to Mauthausen. The main road to the camp was closed due to flooding, forcing Joop to find an alternate route. Although I've always had an appreciation for our tour bus drivers, my respect deepened as he maneuvered that big bus on roads that were meant only for cattle and bikes. I had mixed feelings when it wasn't clear if we'd be able to make it to Mauthausen—I dreaded going, knowing how hard of a trip it would be, but I also felt it necessary to honor with our attention those who suffered such atrocities. Joop found the right path—a bike path, as it turned out—and the die was cast. The tour started off with a video of the camp and its liberation, including interviews of some prisoners who survived it and some soldiers who liberated it. We then went onto the grounds. The day was still overcast, although the rain had slowed to a trickle. I know that I saw it in color in real life, but in my memory (and therefore the pictures), it was all black and white. The juxtaposition of the cheerful rolling hills spotted with tidy Austrian homes next to the gray despair of the camp was profound. To stand looking at the freedom present in those hills from behind barbed wires must have been searing. The kids couldn't take too much time on the Mauthausen grounds—it is profoundly moving—so they headed back to the bus after a short time. The adults paid their respects at the various memorials set up by all of the countries that had had native sons and daughters imprisoned at Mauthausen. People silently filed back on the bus, overwhelmed by what we had seen, for a quiet ride to Schönbrunn Palace on the outskirts of Vienna—the last city of our tour. |
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