"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

Dachau – Sat Nov 26th

International Monument Dachau

We had to be in Munich to catch our flights home so we decided to arrive a day earlier to fit in a trip to Dachau. E was probably the worst he had been all trip and since it was so cold he decided to stay home. To be honest, three hours in the cold put us at our limit and it wasn’t even winter yet. I don’t know how anyone survived a winter in the camp with the meagre clothes and shelter they had. I don’t really have a lot to say. I mean, what can you say when faced with such horror? It was an important visit, but a sombre one. A tip if you are going, try to make it on Saturday because there’ll be no school groups (our guide said every student goes as part of the curriculum so there are generally multiple groups of school children and it is a lot busier). We went on a tour with Go Munich Tours and I thought our guide was excellent.

The front gate
Roll Call Area. Between the maintenance building and the barracks.
Back of the reconstructed barracks. You can see the outline on the ground to the left where the next barracks would have been.
Outlines of the barracks stretching to the back of the camp
The Jewish Memorial
Crematorium and gas chamber building

Comments

2 responses to “Dachau – Sat Nov 26th”

  1. Yes, I went to Dachau when I was in Munich. It’s s sobering experience, isn’t it? It’s hard to even imagine how horible it was. I’m glad it’s still standing and that a trip to see it is party of the school curriculom.
    Congratulations on completing NaBloPoMo! I know you said a couple of your posts didn’t make it, which is a shame but you still completed the month! Nice job.

  2. I’ve been to Dachau, too. It’s … something you don’t want to see but have to see, if you know what I mean.