Dachau

After a stop for happy to be found Starbucks and some hot breakfast, we hopped on train and bus towards the Dachau Concentration Camp.
Although I am not a huge history guru, the holocaust has always interested me. It still amazes me the pain and torture that these innocent people went through. It is crazy to think that a camp such a Dachau (which was one of the first concentration camps) could have been just miles from Munich, yet successfully put innocent people through torture without anyone stoping it.



The weather was cold and damp when we visited the camp, which was perfect considering the damper mood and atmosphere of the grounds. We were able to walk through the museum, barracks, and extermination facilities. Even after studying the holocaust several times in school, I have never been able to fully grasp the horrific reality of it. With each story and testimony there is more pain and suffering to be found.
One particular room that shocked me was in the wash room. Here the men would wash, and some who were "in trouble" with the officers would be picked out and hung from their arms for hours. The hatches in the ceiling beams are still in the building that were used for these "hangings". Their hands would be tied behind there back, and then hung from that hatch on the ceiling causing them to hang in an extremely unnatural manner. While hanging they were beaten, and oftentimes attacked by the officers dogs. Prisoners were known to hang for hours at a time. I find it extremely hard to imagine such torture, especially for such innocent people.

I learned even more as I continued to read the museum walls. The exhibit had newspaper excerpts from the area during that time. Apparently the leaders of the Dachau camp brought in civilians, reporters and other important people from the community to "tour" the camp while it was in operation. They would chose prisoners who looked somewhat healthy, and present a small portion of the camp to the "tourists", creating a false reality of what the camp was about. These "tourists" were told that all prisoners were there for legitimate reason, fed well, and treated humanely.

Over 34,000 people died at the Dachau camp.