Dachau

A somber morning, partially cloudy, led me to the Hauptbahnhof(central station) and 25 minutes outside of Munich to the first concentration camp built under Hitler's rule. I took the trip alone. The experience of the hallowed grounds really needed to be done that way, alone. There is a dark history to the quite bavarian town. Over 12 years,from 1933-1945, thousands of people were forced through the gates of the camp, and astounding numbers would never leave. In 1944, at the height of the Nazi brutality, more than 120 people a day were executed there. These numbers leave me dumbfounded.


Prisoner entrance. The gate reads "Work will set you free"

I could not imagine trying to take in the historic relevance of this place with others interrupting my experience. Even after the fact, I'm finding it hard to put into words the emotion I felt as I walk around the grounds. It was a history lesson that you have to see to understand. Nothing I read during any of my education could have taught me as much as just being there and taking it in. Amidst the stories of the evil which was brought upon innocent people, the memorial stands as a beautiful shrine to hope and understanding. It shows the world that the atrocities committed there will not be forgotten, nor repeated.