If anyone is in Europe or Baltics and you have the chance to visit one of the Concentration Camps, its an experience that you will never forget.

I have visted Auschwitz-Birkenhau and Dacau and the feeling you get as you walk through the gates is impossible to describe. No matter how many feature films or documentaries you see, nothing prepares you for what you see and feel.

I took a tour group to Munich and we visited Dacau, the first camp built. One of the group was quite blase and didn't think he would find the camp or its history interesting. Just before we all got off the coach I asked everyone to clear their minds of all preconceived ideas about Dacau and what happened there.

Walking through those gates and along the side of the main building the feelings of fear, loathing and misunderstandling welled up. But as you turn the corner and the 4 huts that still stand are infront of you and the exercise yard where a huge bronze memorial stands, the feelings become overwelming.

In the main building there is a history of what was done there, how the prisoners lived and where they lived...there are photographs and lists of those who died there. Even after all this time, its still incredibly chilling.

You can walk through the huts, they are exactly as they were when the last few survivors were freed back at the end of the war. You then walk up along the ditch, where the electric fence still remains...you can't help but visualise prisoners trying desperately to escape....

Off to the left, behind the trees is a small synagogue, a memorial to those who perished. Across from there is the crematorium, a stark building...just looking at it sends chills down your spine.

You enter the crematorium, to the left are the 'shower rooms' - the gaschambers and to the right, the massive triple incinerators. The atmosphere is cold and dank, even on a very hot day. Everything is how it was left when the camp was discovered and those who were still alive, given their freedom, food and drink and medical care.

The next area is outside, its a beautiful wooded area, wild flowers growing and a small shale pathway leading you through the trees. And that is when it really hits you. This walled garden has plaques, flowers of remembrance laid on them. You then realise that you are infact walking on the ashes of those who were killed. The passenger who was indifferent when we arrived sat near the main memorial and cried..as did most of the group..as did I.

Auschwitz-Birkenhau has similar effects on visitors, possibly stronger as its that camp that people most associate with WW2. The trainlines leading into the camp under the tower, the huts and barrack blocks that saw so much anguish....

Visiting one of the camps stays with you forever and if anyone does get the chance to go and visit one of them, it is a life changing experience that I would truly recommend to everyone.

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