Monday, March 15, 2010

The other side of Germany

This weekend I had the (un)fortunate opportunity to visit Dachau, the Nazis' first concentration camp, located near Munich, in south-eastern Germany, about a 6-hour train trip from Berlin. It was a freezing, gray day, which suited the visit just fine. As I was told before I went, it's worse in person than you can even imagine. They have made a GREAT museum in the main building. For more information, and pictures from the camp, go to wikipedia's entry on Dachau.

The entrance - "Work makes you free"

View of where the barracks once stood (they've all since been destroyed, but two have been rebuilt as part of the memorial and museum), from near the crematorium. (I'm not posting pictures of the crematorium or the "oven," they're too creepy and gross.)

Statue outside the main building. The English says (it's a big inscription, but hard to make out in the picture): "May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."

1 comment:

Natalie Dennen said...

yeah, it's disturbing. i had to work up my courage to walk through the gas chambers. and then i walked through them very quickly.