Today was a traveling day. We had our last breakfast in Munich, sneaking a few sandwiches into my mom’s purse for lunch, and headed towards the former concentration camp at Dachau. We have focused a lot on the Holocaust this trip, after seeing the Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Berlin and several museums dedicated to the genocide that occurred, but we thought it especially important to see one of the places that the systematic murders had occurred. It was a very sobering and sad day, but enlightening as well. We started off watching a 2o minute documentary on the history of Dachau, and the events that took place there. Dachau was the first concentration camp that the Nazi regime created, and it was originally created to imprison their political enemies. Out of all of the concentration camps, it was the only one that was open for all 12 years that they were in power.
As you walk in the gate of the camp, the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” are written on the door or “Work Makes You Free,” a taunting reminder of how powerless the prisoners were. The large expanse of land past the entrance gate used to be used for roll call; the prisoners had to meet here twice a day and would have to stand still, often after having worked to exhaustion, until all were accounted for, which could last an hour or sometimes all night long. Today, there is a large sculpture of twisted barbed wires and emaciated bodies with the words “Never again” written nearby. There are two reconstructed barracks out of the original 34, where buildings intended to fit 200 would squeeze 2,000. Further back, we saw the location of the infirmaries where medical experiments were often conducted and medical treatments were rarely performed on the sick, allowing typhus and other diseases to take a massive toll. At the far end of the camp, there are gas chambers and crematoriums. Although the gas chambers at Dachau were never used for mass murders like in other concentration camps, it is suspected that they were used experimentally several times. Overall, it was a powerful sight to see the camp, and I think we all found it to be a valuable experience.
We then drove on to Colmberg where, on a much lighter note, we checked into the castle where we are staying for the night. The rooms are a little small, but it was really fun to wander through the many halls and staircases. The furnishings are really interesting, and we found many old couches and cabinets, as well as some cradles with creepy baby dolls inside. We walked down to town and had a delicious and inexpensive meal. Back at the castle, we found a cozy alcove where we finished off the cake from my dad’s birthday and enjoyed the pretty landscape. We went down to watch the sunset over the castle grounds, and saw many deer (which my dad was convinced were llama). Tomorrow we will head to the small town of Rothenburg!
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