Places of Pain

There are places in the world whose names bring to mind human pain and suffering

caused by other people, nature, or both. Included here are some of these places and the

horrors and disasters that caused their infamy.

Auschwitz was only one of the Nazi concentration camps. They were built in the

1930s to exterminate Jews by killing them in gas chambers. Auschwitz, in Poland, is now

called Oswiecim.

Bangladesh, a small country next to India, is the site of a constant battle with nature

and with environmental degradation made worse by humans. Over the years it has suffered

from floods, tidal waves, cyclones, tornados, and famine.

Belfast, in Northern Ireland, was long the scene of frequent terrorist activities in the

struggle between Catholics and Protestants.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki : When the U.S. dropped atom bombs on these two

Japanese cities to end World War II, millions died or were maimed, and the cities were

destroyed.

Pearl Harbor : This U.S. naval base in Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese on

December 7, 1941 : 18 ships were sunk, 200 planes were destroyed, and 3,700 casualties

suffered. This surprise attack propelled the U.S. into World War II.

Ring of Fire : This is were the land plates of Asia and the Americas meet the Pacific

Ocean plate. Some 60 percent of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur

along this line.

The Tower of London is a fortress in London, England. Inside, the Traitor’s Gate and

Bloody Tower were site of many beheadings.

World Trade Center : In 1993 terrorists drove a truck packed with explosives into

the basement parking garage at the World Trade Center. Despite the size of the blast-it left a

crater 22 ft. wide and five stories deep-only six people were killed and 1,000 injured.

On September 11,2001, two commercial planes, en route from Boston to Los

Angeles, were hijacked and flown minutes apart into the north and south towers of the

World Trade Center. Both World Trade Center. Both World Trade Center towers collapsed.

In all, 2,995 people died in the terrorist attacks, including the 19 hijackers. It was the worst

terrorist attack in U.S. soil in history. Wounded Knee is the location of a battlefield in South

Dakota where, in 1890, U.S. soldiers killed 200 Sioux women, children, and warriors.