Dachau Memorial Site

This is not going to be a happy post. There is no way to explain what it felt like to be there and walk where people died and were buried as if they were subhuman. I'll try to keep it from being too detailed and graphic, but we did go inside the torture bunker, along with a gas chamber and crematoriums. I'm not trying to upset people, but I've been impacted by this, and I think everyone should educate themselves.

Not going to lie, the second thing I knew I wanted to do when we decided on Munich was visit Dachau. One of my favorite (weird word choice, but so true) classes at OU was my class on the Holocaust. We learned about the treatment of Jews in Europe before the 20th century, studied Hitler's rise to power and legislation, the planning of the Holocaust, and then discussed how Jews, Germany and the world are dealing with, and learning from, it. It was one of the hardest classes I took, but I got to learn so much about human nature. After that class, I really wanted to visit, and learn, about a former camp.

Walking to "Welcome Square"

Godforsaken. Those are replicas of barracks. We didn't go to them.

We did a guided tour, which was the best decision we made that week. Our tour guide is working on her Master's degree related to educating visitors about the camp and the atrocities that happened there, so she was incredibly passionate about it all. The first thing she asked us was why we were there and what we wanted to get from it. Which is a really good question...why was I there? For me, I went there to honor those who suffered and died there, to educate myself about what intolerance and hate can do, and so that I can teach the next generation about it.

Entrance to the Torture Bunker. See how long it is? It's just as long on the other side. 

The torture bunker is on the right, entrance building on the left.

Dachau is officially called a memorial site, or a former concentration camp. It was the first camp Hitler opened, and since it was liberated in 1945, it was open for the entirety of the Third Reich. I didn't know that 3/4 of the camp was surrounded by a Nazi training school for those men who would eventually work in other camps. Apparently the "Dachau method" was considered the best, and men were sent there to learn how to physically, and mentally, break people.

Guard Tower

If you tried to escape, you'd have to make it in and out of the ditch, across the grass without being shot,
through the electric fence and barbed wire, and then through a river. And in most places,
you'd end up in a Nazi training camp

When Dachau opened, it had mostly political prisoners. The barracks were made to hold 100 people originally (the camp was originally supposed to hold around 5000 people), but when it was liberated, people were sleeping 6-7 people per bunk, and there were 32,000. Walking into the camp and viewing Roll Call Square, it is so incredibly huge, empty and lifeless. I can't imagine 32,000 prisoners there.

It was interesting to walk through the museum and have our guide give us more information about things there. I had never known about how the Nazis arranged everything to present themselves as humans and high above the prisoners (inhuman). The prison buildings are one story, while the Nazi buildings and watchtowers are 2 or more. Even the pictures the Nazis took are above eye level. She stopped us in front of a picture of men waiting to be processed into the camp, which was placed next to a picture of prisoners during roll call. The prisoners have no individuality left, and cannot stand with their hands in their pockets, or look the Nazis in the eye, while the men waiting to go in still have their normal clothes and are standing however they want. The picture of the prisoners is from above, while the one of the men waiting is from eye level.

Beams used to be here. They used to hang prisoners from them and torture them.

Where you'd shower when you came into the camp.

Walking through the torture bunker was so mournful. Once you walk in the door, there are hallways to your left and right, and they seem to go on forever. All you can see are doors into cells. Looking into the tiny rooms, I can't imagine being left there for a day, let alone totured over and over for months. Apparently the Nazis would leave a rusty knife with the prisoners and tell them they could decide when to end it. What would you have done?

Blurry, but the door to a cell.

Inside a cell

At the end of the tour, we walked over to the crematorium and gas chamber. The chamber at Dachau wasn't used for mass killings like the ones at Auschwitz, but it was used to kill small groups, which is still disgusting. Walking in, the room felt completely different. It was dark in many of the small rooms already, but it was somehow worse then any other room. Walking out into the crematorium and looking at the ovens, some stil with the stretchers pulled out, was so surreal. How could people willingly do this?

Crematorium/gas chambers. The Nazis wanted it to look "homey". That's disgusting.

"Showers" and the entrance to the gas chamber. This makes me sick.

Disturbing on so many levels. That hole on the bright wall is where the Krylon B was put from the outside.

Where the poison gas went.

Oven.

I can't imagine having to work these when the camps were functional.

So sad.

As we were leaving the camp, the Catholic memorial's bell started tollling. It rings at the hour Christ is supposed to have died, and it was the only sound we could hear in the camp as we walked past the spots where all the barracks used to be. It was so desolate and still, and hearing only a bell toll seemed so fitting. In memory of those who lived, died and survived there, I want to educate the next generation about what hate can do. This should not happen again, but it still is, in different forms, with different names. We need to be the ones who make it stop everywhere. I'll be teaching my students to respect the lives of all they meet, regardless of similarities and differences, in the hopes that I'll teach them that no one is more important than another, and that all life is sacred.

I don't remember what this says, but it has a former prisoner on it. How can you tell?

The memorial. Never Again.

Every bed with stones was a foundation for a barrack. This is only a part of one side

Catholic and Jewish memorials. That's the bell we heard.

Sleeping Beauty Castle!

Tom and I decided to take a guided tour out to see Neuschwanstein Castle, and on the way, we stopped at another castle, Linderhof, built by the same King, Ludwig II. I was not looking forward to the trip since it was grey and rainy in Munich, but it was sunny for us! And I may have had a minor meltdown when we pulled into the town and the side of  Neuschwanstein Castle that we saw was covered in scaffolding and I was worried it would all be like that and I would have terrible pictures of something I've wanted to visit for forever!

Waiting for the tour of Lindehof.

I'm sure this is prettier in summer.

Love him.

I honestly wasn't a fan of the first castle. It was small, and since it was modeled after Versailles, it was really over the top. In a small space, that just doesn't work for me- I ended up feeling closed in. The gardens were pretty, but I'm sure they're a thousand times better in the summer when they're green and the fountains are working!

The outside of Lindehof.

At least I got to see snow!

 I did get to take a picture next to a giant swan, so that was exciting. I should really make an album of all the awkward pictures I have next to animals...it's going to be awesome.

I would have gotten closer, but it was staring me down.

On the way to the castle, we stopped in a small town where the houses are painted with biblical and fairy tale scenes. Thankfully, we were able to find a Christmas ornament store there, so we have 2 small ornaments from Germany! We didn't get to take pictures of some of the really cool houses we saw driving in,  but it was a cute little town that would be fun to visit again!

I think Once Upon A Time could be filmed here.

When we got to the town below Neuschwanstein, we had some time for a quick lunch, then we headed up to the castle. We took a bus and then walked up to the "hanging bridge" (to quote my wonderful boyfriend) to take pictures of the castle. I was freaking out about having to go out on a bridge up that high, especially since I thought it was going to be old and scary. Apparently it's quite sturdy, even if it is old, but the boards still shake when people walk past you, which terrified me. Tom was fairly certain I'd cry and have a panic attack, but I did surprisingly well. Not only did we get some great pictures, I walked all the way across the bridge and back just to prove that I could. If that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, you obviously don't know how much I detest heights and that I get freaked out looking over high balconies sometimes.

After I hiked across the bridge and back. So proud and excited!

My Prince Charming. (You knew that was coming).

See that bridge?

That's where we stood. 

We had some time to wait around in the courtyard before our tour started, so we took some pictures, and I amused myself by watching a little girl count the steps from one courtyard to another. When she got stuck on a number I helped her, and I basically became her counting guide. When she finally made it to the bottom, she turned around to ask me what she'd counted to, then ran off to tell her family. Sorry if I freaked them out, but she was so cute, and so serious about it all that I had to help her!

I like making him smile for pictures.

Perfect for a destination wedding right?

Afterwards, we tried to ride back down in a carriage but apparently you need to buy the tickets for it before you go up, so we hiked all the way down. I did make us stop for ice cream when we got to the bottom since I was denied my carriage ride, but I don't think Tom minded. After that, we headed back to Munich to eat more delicious food and drink some more beer. It was such a long day, but I've finally seen the Sleeping Beauty Castle! I can check it off my life list!