Bavaria Day 2 - Dachau and More Munich
Close to Munich is the town of Dachau, which was home to the first of the Nazi concentration camps, opened in 1933. The camp at Dachau became the model for the system of concentration camps throughout Europe and is, I think, an important piece of history to experience, to drive home the horrors that occurred there and which must never be repeated. Though it is a somber place to visit, I believe the memorial site does a good job of preserving this difficult history, and more importantly of educating visitors in a respectful and impactful way. We learned while we were there that all schoolchildren in Bavaria are required to visit a concentration camp each year as part of their history education.
After the war, the Dachau concentration camp was used to house German troops before trial, and then for refugees from the war. Eventually the original barracks were torn down, but two have been reconstructed - the rooms in the barrack are set up to reflect three different timeframes in the camp's history. The original barracks contained three-level bunk beds, but individual narrow beds such as the German army used at the time. The next rooms had these beds with little to no gap between, and then the final room, which showed how the camp was set up at the time of the liberation, was just mutli-level wooden platforms, which would have been absolutely crammed with people. The mental math that led to knowing that each of the original bed spaces would have been holding 6 people when the camp was at its fullest was a really terrifying picture.
We joined an English tour of the camp, which was very helpful to understand what we were looking at and the history behind it. We heard stories of the conditions in the camp and the terrible practices ranging from morning and evening roll call to horrific medical experiments designed to simulate potential issues the German army might run into. One example of this was to force prisoners to submerge in freezing tubs of water to see how long they could survive, as if they were German airmen that had crashed into water in Siberia.
Needless to say, the camp was a sobering reminder of the evil that can be found in this world, and the tendency of people to ignore things that make them uncomfortable, but also the amazing resilience of humans. It strengthens my resolve to try not to ignore those things that are inhumane in this world now, and to try my best to right those wrongs so that the world may never again see the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust.
The only picture we took at the camp was of this statue, which shows the prisoners how they wished to be remembered: as survivors rather than just as victims.
We got a recommendation for dinner form the hotel staff for a delicious German restaurant. Asparagus was in season while we were there, and was everywhere in the markets and restaurants, so we both had some - huge spears of white asparagus, along with schnitzel, some cured meats, and of course beer.
By the time dinner was through we were pretty beat, so we turned in for the night, ready to head towards Salzburg the next day.
After the war, the Dachau concentration camp was used to house German troops before trial, and then for refugees from the war. Eventually the original barracks were torn down, but two have been reconstructed - the rooms in the barrack are set up to reflect three different timeframes in the camp's history. The original barracks contained three-level bunk beds, but individual narrow beds such as the German army used at the time. The next rooms had these beds with little to no gap between, and then the final room, which showed how the camp was set up at the time of the liberation, was just mutli-level wooden platforms, which would have been absolutely crammed with people. The mental math that led to knowing that each of the original bed spaces would have been holding 6 people when the camp was at its fullest was a really terrifying picture.
We joined an English tour of the camp, which was very helpful to understand what we were looking at and the history behind it. We heard stories of the conditions in the camp and the terrible practices ranging from morning and evening roll call to horrific medical experiments designed to simulate potential issues the German army might run into. One example of this was to force prisoners to submerge in freezing tubs of water to see how long they could survive, as if they were German airmen that had crashed into water in Siberia.
Needless to say, the camp was a sobering reminder of the evil that can be found in this world, and the tendency of people to ignore things that make them uncomfortable, but also the amazing resilience of humans. It strengthens my resolve to try not to ignore those things that are inhumane in this world now, and to try my best to right those wrongs so that the world may never again see the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust.
The only picture we took at the camp was of this statue, which shows the prisoners how they wished to be remembered: as survivors rather than just as victims.
After our visit to Dachau, we grabbed some lunch fixings at a local grocery store that included landieger, pretzels (duh), bananas, and some European sodas (Schwip Schwap for Charlie, and a lemon soda for me). We drove back into Munich, and set out to explore a bit more in the English Garden. The garden is quite large and though it was still cold, it was a pleasant walk. We just missed the close of the beer garden unfortunately, but we did get to see a couple of guys surfing on the standing wave in one of the garden’s canals.
We got a recommendation for dinner form the hotel staff for a delicious German restaurant. Asparagus was in season while we were there, and was everywhere in the markets and restaurants, so we both had some - huge spears of white asparagus, along with schnitzel, some cured meats, and of course beer.
By the time dinner was through we were pretty beat, so we turned in for the night, ready to head towards Salzburg the next day.
Comments
Post a Comment