Blogs from Dachau, Bavaria, Germany, Europe
October 2nd 2011
Outside of bathroom lights that would automatically shut off for no apparent reason (resulting in me being in the dark for the latter part of my shower), the bed at the Movenpick was glorious and we started our morning with their breakfast buffet that they feature on weekends. Matt loaded up on his usual Euro favorite yogurt and fruit, while I went straight for the moment I always wait for….that first sip of coffee. I don’t care what country you are visiting in the EU, there is a distinct and wonderful taste to their coffee and I love how familiar it always seems to taste, like I had it yesterday. I also had to have one of my favorites – a baguette with butter, ham, and havarti cheese (it just tastes like Paris). We hit ... read more
November 21st 2010
Saturday I had no idea when we crossed the border from Austria to Germany. All I knew was that the blanket fog along the way looked both eerie and fascinating. Deep pockets of fog and Bavarian forests rolled into little hamlets which skirted the base of the mountains. This is what shaped the scene along the way from Salzburg to Munich. The ICE train - long and sleek, a little like a bullet train, not at all English, cut through the countryside at a striking pace. At Munich station, after asking many times, I found where I should go for the train to Dachau. At Dachau the freezing fog remained very low as if skirting the ground like a net curtain. It hung exactly in the concentration camp but not in the town itself. In the ... read more
October 24th 2010
Today, even though I was still tired from yesterday, I went with a group of friends from school to see the first Nazi concentration camp - Dachau Konzentrationslager. Seeing everything was more brutal than I thought. We walked the path that all the new inmates would have walked when they were sent to Dachau. On the gate to the camp was a sign that said “Arbeit Macht Frei”, which means “Work brings freedom.” After crossing the bridge and walking through this gate you were no longer a person, but a number. Out of the 200,000 prisoners sent here, at least 30,000 were killed. Some of the barracks inside were still intact or renovated and we saw the bunks and toilets and bathrooms of the prisoners. It was a freezing and wet day. Every time I thought ... read more
September 26th 2010
Saturday 18th September 2010 ( Happy Birthday Dad 95 today ) Up and away today we head further south but not before a very sobering visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp just north of Munich. Originally set up as a camp for political opponents of the Nazi regime in 1933 it served as a model for all later camps. The horrors committed by one human to another here were truly awful and the boys did not visit the museum where the more graphic exhibits are displayed. In 12 years more than 200,000 people from all over Europe were imprisoned here - 43,000 died either murdered or starved / worked to death. The camp was liberated on 29th April 1945 by American forces who recorded what they found in detail. On to camp near Fussen at a ... read more
Day 23 - Munich and the Dachau Memorial
Published: April 20th 2010Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Dachau
April 19th 2010
Day 23 and our trip to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial is a difficult day to write about. I want to share it with everyone back home, but at the same time it is hard to do that in a way that doesn't belittle genocide into my simplistic understanding of what happened in WWII. The Dachau concentration camp was the main reason we organised to come to Munich. It wasn't something we were excited about seeing, but it was something that we felt we needed to see. Especially after travelling through Europe for the last few weeks. We went on a tour as Dachau is a little bit complicated to get to, and we thought it would be a lot easier to go with someone who goes almost everyday rather than try and find it ourselves. ... read more
February 28th 2010
DACHAU Day 39 After spending yesterday enjoying the greatness that the human mind can create I endeavored to the darker side today. Today I made my way to the small town of Dachau, only 20 minute train ride from Munich. I had previously never heard of Dachau before arriving in Munich and upon learning of it I decided that it was important to go. Dachau is the home of the very first concentration camp. It was the only camp open for the full reign of Hitler; it acted as the training centre (brainwashing centre) for SS Troops; and was the blueprint for how to run all other concentration camps. Much of the camp remains today but it now acts as a memorial site and information centre. The prisoners who had survived Dachau, the most feared ... read more
February 11th 2010
It is very snowy and cold here in Munich. I arrived yesterday around noon, armed with good advice from the very kind lady who sat in my compartment on the train ride from Innsbruck. My hotel was pretty easy to find from the train station, and thankfully very clean and warm. After checking in I headed out to find an internet cafe to see about accommodation for my next destination, but was not able to confirm anything. All was not lost however, since I found my way to the Marienplatz where I decided to secure my tour to Dachau for the following day, in advance. Dachau was the reason for my return to Munich. This morning arrived, cold and very very snowy. I headed to the meeting place for my Dachau visit to discover that I ... read more
Munich, Dachau, and the rise of the Third Reich
Published: July 9th 2009Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Dachau
July 9th 2009
Hello Everyone, Yesterday I visited the Memorial at Dachau that is at the site of the former concentration camp. Dachau is infamous for being, not only the first concentration camp, but also the training grounds for the SS. The SS were Hitler's elite police/army who were in charge of the concentration camps all through out Germany and its territories. The SS training was for boys 16-19. It was basically training in torture. All of the future concentration camps used Dachau as a guide and the rules and regulations used in all the camps were drawn up there. Dachau was the only concentration camp open for all 12 years of the Third Reich, 1933-1945. Today I took a tour about the rise of the Third Reich in Munich. I learned a lot of things I never knew ... read more
June 28th 2009
(I split today into two entries since I couldn't exactly link the two parts of my day) I woke up this morning to a very cloudy sky - how fitting it rain the day I go to Dachau. On the S-bahn ride to Dachau I met a girl, Sophia, traveling by herself - she’s from Taiwan, studying in Boston, doing an internship in Bohn, Germany. How epic. We talked pretty much the entire way there and made supper plans for afterwards, as it does get tiresome eating by yourself all the time. (My next entry, or previous depending how they're posted) Dachau is remarkably close to a fair sized city, and the camp itself is gigantic. Literally as soon as the bus pulled up to the camp it started to absolutely POUR rain. We ran to ... read more
May 11th 2009
Hi all! Sorry for such a long delay in FINALLY finishing the rest of my Germany blog!! But here is day 3 of Germany, which was actually last sunday! Britt and I got up bright and early at 7 am to make sure we had enough time to see Dachau and do a few other things before having to leave. We got ready, packed up our things, and headed down to the delicious continental breakfast... It probably in reality was not delicious... but compared to what we have been eating in Italy, we were in heaven! After we ate our combined weight in food, we went back up to the room to grab our bags and put them in the hotel storage so that we wouldn't have to come back at noon to check out. We ... read more
