A difficult start to the day with a visit to the Buchenwald Memorial. Virtually all of the original concentration camp has been flattened, but the outlines of the huts remain. I found the memorial to the 'Little Camp', which I didn't know about, where inmates were kept in indescribable conditions: far far worse - if we can even imagine that - than those of the main camp.
And I visited the art gallery, titled 'Means of Survival'. Much of the work is of outstanding quality, and was very moving. The more so because to record the actual conditions would have been to invite trouble. So there were portraits: dignified, caring. Inevitably some inmate artists were professionals, but many were not; some learned to draw or paint while they were in the camp. And there were pictures produced after liberation, as a way of trying to come to terms with the artist's experience, or to provide evidence.
Not much need to take photos this morning.
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