There once were three little Mormon boys in Hamburg. They didn't like what Hitler was doing. One would listen to the BBC, write anti-Nazi pamphlets, and then all three would put them up in Hamburg. The ringleader, Helmuth Hubener, was eventually sent here to Plotzen(lake) (now Memorial) Prison where he was beheaded. This was a place for political-type prisoners - 3,000 died here.

The other day I watched as the last 'little Mormon boy' placed a wreath in the execution room of Plotzensee prison in memory of his friend.










This is him! Karl-Heinz Schibbne and he lives in Utah now. He also spent several years in Nazi prisons, was drafted into the army, captured by the Soviets and then got to stay in their prisons until 1949! He was truly moved when he placed the wreath in memory of his friend...








This is where his friend, Helmuth, died. Hitler himself rejected requests for clemency. The beam above (the original was destroyed in the war) is where the Nazis would hang people...












This is an original picture I found on Wikipedia. On the right is the guillotine they also used to kill people - Helmut was decapitated.

I just found it truly freaky...the past always seems so far away. Look at the above photo and then this one...it doesn't seem so 'far away' now, does it?







This is the original door that Helmut and 3,000 others (Czech resistance fighters, the coup people who tried to kill Hitler, etc.) walked through before they died. When the guillotine was taking too long they just turned to hanging as 'quicker' and, probably, cheaper....

Now look up at the above photo....the door is just out of sight to the right....how would you feel? I keep on thinking about that...walking through that door, looking to the right, seeing a big black drape, the drape being opened, seeing the guillotine...records say he had a slight smile on his face...so, I just hope that he felt peace in his last moment...

And then to add to the situation....I don't know if you can tell, but the cement by the door and where the guillotine used to be is markedly a 'reddish-pink' color as opposed to the other cement farther away....I don't know, but it was suggested to me that the guillotine and the blood is the reason for it...definitly possible....


Also at the memorial they have an urn with dirt from all the Nazi concentration camps...I find it kind of an odd 'gesture', but I also think when you're dazed and confused in the 50's and 60's about your country's history and what you or your relatives might have done during the war, you try to do your best to remember/atone for/relieve your guilt/etc.

And yet another place that I don't know what to do with, psychologically/mentally/emotionally speaking...so much suffering...and it still goes on...