Sunday, July 13, 2008

Dachau

It was another early morning and the weather was really dreary and rainy. It was appropriate since we were visiting Dachau today. We took the Autobahn through Munich and got to Dachau before lunch.

We got a little lost trying to find the entrance because nothing was really marked so we ended up being soaked before we even got inside. Once we were in I went into the museum, which was an old building that housed the hospital, kitchens and armament factory. They had a movie about what happened at Dachau and lots of informative displays. I didn't have much time to look around inside because I wanted to see the housing areas and the crematorium.

They actually destroyed all the housing after the prisoners were liberated so they recreated two buildings to replicate what they had to live in. It was really mind blowing because they fit 500 people into each section of these houses (I think there were three sections in each...). All that is left of the original housing are the footprints of the foundations.

I made it to the crematorium which is at the opposite end and outside the fences surrounding Dachau. If my information is correct, they never used the "showers" at Dachau, even though they were built. Even seeing them, knowing they weren't really used, was still very sobering and completely unbelievable.

We then got back onto the bus for the rest of our trip to Rothenburg, my mind was definitely on what I had seen today, I am glad to have had that experience.


The area where they would line up the prisoners many times a day

The old building which now houses the museum

Inside one of the housing buildings, the bunks were three high


Part of the trench surrounding Dachau, also a guard tower

The main gate of Dachau "Work Makes you Free"

No comments: