Today we went to visit the first concentration camp under Hitler's regime, Dachau. The camps is about 15 km outside of Munich, and we took a guided tour of the site. The guide gave a detailed account of how the camps were established. Dachau was the first, and served not only as the model for all future concentration camps, but as a training ground for new guards and commanders and as a showcase for diplomatic tours. He helped to describe the evolution of the camps, from a work camp for political prisoners to a source of slave labor, and finally, as a "final solution" to the problem of jews and other "undesirables". The tour was eye opening, and appalling. The original gas chamber and ovens are still on the site at the insistence of the camp surviviers, and visiters can walk through the chambers in the same path that many prisoners took. Standing in the gas chamber was a humbling experience; knowing as we do that do many others walked in but never saw the other side.
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| Dachau |
3 comments:
I think this is a must see for anyone who goes to that area. It's been 20 years since I've been there and I still remember it vividly! Still have all the photos inside? People weren't making a sound when walking through. Profound experience isn't it?
Hey, do you think you could email me what some of the pics are? I got a few of them, but not all. I think that is a place you have to see, but wish it was never there.
The sculpture is awesome. I know you are gonna see and have seen muchos art, but that sculpture had to be moving given the location. I hope you guys did something uplifting after this...what a "Debbie" downer.
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