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Tweak says, "I think reality's broken"

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Dani ([info]placebo_effect) wrote,
@ 2010-01-18 20:50:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood: shocked
Current music:Tocotronic - Um die Ecke (Gedacht)
Entry tags:fail, history, not impressed, school

Honestly, how much can a single person fail?!
So since I've chosen history as one of my main subjects at school, we do a lot of things that aren't necessarily part of normal class, like, I don't know, study trips, going to museums and stuff.

And since we're about to revise everything connected to the Third Reich, my teacher organised an excursion to the Neuengamme concentration camp, which is a memorial now. Obviously I think that's a good thing to do, because knowing and remembering what happened in Nazi Germany is the essential thing to avert it ever happens again. I also still feel like being German gives you the responsibility to deal with the topic in an extremely cautious and sensitive way.

Unfortunately our guide there didn't seem to agree.
After walking around in the cold and the snow for three hours, my teacher suggested to go inside and have a look at the exhibition instead, because everyone was shivering, to which that woman replied "Also bitte, was einen nicht umbringt macht einen nur härter! Aber naja, jedem das seine!" ("Oh please, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! But fine, to each his own!" or something similar).
I can't even explain how you can fuck up that much in only two sentences. I guess the first one is obvious - to say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" at a place where people had to work 14 hours a day, with hardly anything to eat until they died, freezing or starving, is about the worst thing you can do. And as if that isn't enough "Jedem das Seine" is also the phrase that was placed over the entrance of the Buchenwald concentration camp. (In that case probably meaning "Everyone gets what he deserves.")

Now can a person working at a place like that really be that dumb and not notice what she's saying? I don't think so.
How can she still be working there? It's rather shocking, actually.



(Post a new comment)


[info]lilithilien
2010-01-18 09:33 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, that's made of some serious fail.

(Reply to this)


[info]shellydkitty
2010-01-18 11:01 pm UTC (link)
I am speechless--I can't believe that. I can't believe she's still working there either. :(

(Reply to this)


[info]aldiara
2010-01-19 04:14 am UTC (link)
Dude, that's fucked up. I guess the poignancy and horror dulls a bit if you work there day in, day out? Even so though, sheesh - you'd think you'd retain a modicum of awareness.

(Reply to this)


[info]ktbob
2010-01-19 06:41 am UTC (link)
Total. Fail.

One of the most powerful memories I have of my trip to Europe was the visit to Dachau. It made a huge impression on me. If someone had said something that insensitive while I was there, I would have been infuriated.

Gah.

(Reply to this)


[info]spaghettitoes
2010-01-19 04:24 pm UTC (link)
It is a sad state of afairs that some people should just not be allowed to open their mouths!

Did you say anything about it? If I were you I'd be sorely tempted to write a discreet letter to her manager or someone because there's the chance she won't just shock someone but could really hurt them. Just politely explain what happened and how it made you feel because they'll take it seriously I'm sure.

Man, I wish I was more shocked by this but having listened to secretaries terrify already nervous patients with inappropriate chat about surgical infections and loss of limbs I'm too aware of how insensitive and idiotic some people can be.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]placebo_effect
2010-01-19 07:56 pm UTC (link)
It is!
Well, I didn't say anything, I mean I would have if no one had reacted, but fortunately my teacher did. After picking his jaw off the floor and staring at her for about a minute without saying anything, he asked her if she even realised what she had just said. Then he said that he didn't want to continue with her as our guide and we left, so he told us the rest on his own.
And today he told us that he had even met her before when he was there with a class about two years ago and she made some extremely inappropriate remarks there as well. So he is going to write a letter to her manager telling what's happened. Which is a good thing, because I don't even want to imagine how someone who has relatives who died there must feel like, if she makes remarks like that.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Reply from suspended user)




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