F L O S S E N B U R G

Honest, it wasn't all seriousness during our week of travels in September.

As I look back at our pictures, I realized we did go from from the cemetery to a concentration camp.

We had to fit in some history along with the good food, castles and fests.

With Ty playing football at a base in Vilseck, Germany, we knew we were making the four-hour drive east.

It was the goal to find something close to the high school to make a side trip for sightseeing.

We had to find something, right?

We did. Of course, we did.
We found the Flossenburg Concentration Camp less than an hour from Ty's game.

It's right on the Czechoslovakia border.

We had intentions of crossing over into the Czech Republic and actually forgot as we left and went straight to Ty's game.

Oh, well- we'll be back.

With kick-off at 1pm and a four-hour drive ahead of us, we woke up at 4:30am and were on the road somewhere around 5am.

It was early, but so worth it. It was cold too. I had no business wearing flip-flops today.

I was never a good student when it came to history. I got a D in US history my sophomore year and had to repeat it.

I have never been good at memorization and dates do not stay in my head. I also get bored quite easily.

If I'm not interested in a book within the first few pages, I'm lost and my mind wanders- hence the D.

Real history is another story. Historical fiction is my favorite genre by far.

Especially since living in Germany, I love reading about WWII. Still can't tell you the dates of anything, but the stories are fascinating to me.

What a horrible time in history. Leaving these sites always creates the desire within to read and learn more about what happened back then.

I want to know the stories and the history. Give me real-live history and I can focus.

What better place to soak up some history lessons than living in Europe?

Hands-on is so much better. To see the striped clothing they wore, their name tags, worn-out shoes, passports and pictures is something you can never forget.

We wanted to make the stop at Dachau, but realized it was too far south for this day trip.

I was completely unaware of how many concentration camps there were spread all over Europe until we started looking them up and found Flossenburg.

It is huge.

Again, the feeling on the grounds is peaceful and reverent. The museums are filled with more information than we could take in during our short two-hour visit.

I wouldn't mind going to our next one sans kids- to read and soak in more.

They have headsets with audio of actual prisoner interviews. Coleman and Caden did listen to some of them. I wish I could have listened to more.

They also have video footage.

I took this straight from their Web site:
The first granite quarry was established there in 1875 and soon became the center of the village economy.

In the late 1930's the owner of the quarry -- also mayor of the village and a loyal Nazi -- persuaded Heinrich Himmler to establish a major camp at the site.

KL Flossenbürg was established in May 1938, and began as a relatively small facility originally intended for criminals, "asocial" persons, and Jews, but it grew to include political prisoners and foreign prisoners of war.

Between 1938, when the camp was established, and April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners passed through Flossenbürg. About 30,000 eventually died there.

The torture and pain they endured is unbelievable.

Standing on the grounds where they lined up, seeing where they were cremated, and walking where they walked makes it a little more real.

I hope my boys remember some of these places we've been able to take them to.