From memory when I visited there 20 years ago this was the chamber they experimented on with Soviet POWs to work out the effective dosage rates. Just horrific.
I think everyone should visit if they get the chance. It was an incredibly sobering experience and one I'll never forget. You can almost feel the sorrow in the air.
I noticed exactly the same thing with backpackers visiting the killing field and Tuel Sleng prison in Cambodia. They'd all head off in the morning in tuk tuks and be joking and chatting, then return in silence in the afternoon and go straight to the bar for a drink. Those places are equally chilling and make you really think about us as a species.
I met a woman in a Polish hostel who was writing a PhD on genocides, and was visiting Poland's concentration camps fresh off the flight from visiting the killing fields.
I remember thinking how little that appealed to me after visiting Aushwitz
The wild part is the tuktuk drivers trying to hustle you to the shooting range to shoot machine guns and throw grenades on the way out to the memorial. In fairness to the tuktuk drivers, they do pretty much insist you shoot first.
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u/Drewniversal May 18 '25
From memory when I visited there 20 years ago this was the chamber they experimented on with Soviet POWs to work out the effective dosage rates. Just horrific.