Dachau

I went to Dachau on my way to Munich, but I figured it should get its own entry, if for no other reason than to not have such a mood change in one entry.

I don't think my writing skills can do justice to a visit to a former concentration camp, so I apologize in advance.

I also want to make the initial disclaimer that I am not trying to demonize Germans in general for the sins of the Nazis. Germans today have changed a lot in the last half century. Based on my limited experience, it seems in general like a very tolerant country. Furthermore, they seem eager to atone for past crimes. Most German cities I have been to have some sort of a memorial honoring the Jewish people who died during the war. Obviously that doesn't begin to make up for what happened, but it is at least an acknowledgement. America has plenty of blood on its hands as well, so don't think I am trying to compare the two or say we are better in any way.

Ok, now that that is established, I will try to describe my visit. 

If you go to Dachau and want a guided tour, I suggest you call ahead in advance or book one through an outside company. The memorial site itself offers one tour (one in German and one in English) daily and two on the weekend (1pm daily, 12:15 Saturday and Sunday). By the time I got there, the 1pm tour was already full. Admittedly, I went on a Saturday, so I should have expected that, but oh well. They also sell audio guides in several languages. And if you don't want a tour or an audio guide, entry into the site is free, and the museum is very informative. I got the audio guide.

This is the gate.

The gate up close.

The weather was beautiful they day I went, which didn't seem right. It felt like there should be permanent clouds over a place that once held such pain. But the weather is oblivious to what goes on down here. 

This is the maintenance building, which now holds the main museum/exhibit hall.

Those two buildings with the trees between them are reconstructed barracks. All the rest of the former barracks are leveled, and all that is left is the foundation so you can see the outline of where they were. This place was used by the American Army for a while after it was liberated, then as a German Refuge camp, then maybe as something else before it because a memorial site, so I don't know when they buildings got taken down, but somewhere in those transitions they did. 

There are several monunments on the grounds.

It says "Never again" in several languages.

There are three religious monuments on the ground, a Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish monument.

This is the protestant monument.

The Catholic monument

The Jewish monument.

There is a hole in the ceiling of the Jewish monument that lets in a bit of sunlight - like a tiny ray of hope.

There is also an area where the Crematoriums used to be.

The second crematorium, which was built because the first one wasn't enough. There was also a gas chamber in the building. Supposedly it wasn't used for mass-murders, but it was used to execute individuals and small groups, which is still bad.

There were several monuments or grave-stone type plaques in this area.

It says "Grave of Thousands Unknown"

The original, smaller crematorium

They reconstructed a section of the security fence so you could see the ditch and barbed wire and everything that they used to keep people in.

The gate with the famous phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei", which translates to something like "Work Makes you Free"

The museum area was very informative and overall I spent 2-3 hours at the memorial site. The audio guide was very informative, but it said everything in a very matter-of-fact way, so it wasn't as disturbing as it could have been. The museum exhibit was more intense, as it had quotes and stories from survivors and pictures of people in the camp, so if you chose to read most of the signs, you would get plenty of details into the lives of the prisoners. I have heard from others that the Auschwitz memorial is much more gruesome in the details they give and that they left everything pretty much the way it was. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but that is what I have heard. I suppose it depends on how much sorrow and intensity you can handle. But either way, I felt it was important that  visit one concentration camp memorial site while here in Germany. Obviously it was a very somber experience, and not at all pleasant, but worthwhile. It was an important part of history, and it is important to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Anyway, that was my trip to Dachau long story short. If you want more details, feel free to ask me, but that is all I will write  here since as I said before, I won't do this visit justice with my writing.