7 best museums for torture and genocide
Blog: 99 + 1 countries - 25 August 2009
By: merja
1. Kriminalmuseum, Große Sperlgasse 24, Vienna, Austria
This small private crime museum hides one true gem in its basement: A drawing dating back to the Middle Ages that displays the most extraordinary method of torturing women in the otherwise rather repetitive tradition of hunting witches. The drawing represents a chair that combines the best of electric chair and toilet seat engineering, used to holding suspected witches fast while lighting up their pubic hair.
2. 9th Fort Museum, 73 Zemaiciu pl. Kaunas, Lithuania
Tucked away outside the city of Kaunas lies this hair rasing old fort used by the nazis and later on the KGB to detend and torture the same people.
There's no public transportation to the museum so to get there you will have to hike a bit on a high way unless you are willing to blow 5 € on a cab. If you have no interest in staying in Kaunas, the museum can be visited on the way from Vilnius to Riga.
This little visited museum should be a high priority on any trip to Lithuania as it is a perfect example of how little it takes for it to happen again.
3. S-21, Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, in the corner of streets 113 and 320, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
A Khmer Rouge version of a concentration camp, the most dramatic exhibits at this school turned torture center are the mugshots of victims.
4. Kriminalmuseum, Burggasse 3 - 5, Rothenburg, Germany
A monument to the evil cunning of the medieval man. Exhibits include a baker's torture chair for bakers who sold too small loaves of bread and a magnitude of shame masks such as a mask to be worn by women who gossiped.
5. Robben Island, Cape Town, South Africa
Pricy, crowded boat tours to this prison island and Unesco World Heritage Site are worth the money as the tours are guided by ex-prisoners who will show you around the compound while telling some goulish stories from the prison's history.
Famous Robben Island lodgers include Nelson Mandela and a delightful colony of penguins.
As these tours are extremely popular you might want to book your 180 rand (17 €) ticket in advance. The boats leave from the waterfront, home to some smelly seals.
6. Auswitz, Poland 7. Dachau, Germany
You've heard about them, read about them and seen them in the movies. Now it's about time to go and visit them.
Never again.
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