Blogs from Dachau, Bavaria, Germany, Europe

Today our friend Peter volunteered to drive us about 12 miles northwest of downtown Munich, to the small town of Dachau (pop. 45,000), and site of the infamous Konzentrationslager (KZ) Dachau. Dee and I rode the bus to Rotkreuzplatz, a square in the Neuhausen district not far from his and Rosita's home, where we met him by 9:30 AM. After 30-minutes of driving we reached the Memorial Site, which is foremost a place of remembrance--a cemetery, but at the same time a museum and place of learning. In addition to a main exhibition on the history of the Dachau camp, which encompasses some 43,000 sq.ft. in various buildings, the Memorial Site offers an extensive educational program, archive and library. Peter had little difficulty in finding a parking place, and we were surprised by the sparse crowds, ... read more

What a glorious day has dawned. The best we have had in a while with not a cloud to be seen and the sun streaming in the window at breakfast time. It is the right sort of day to visit somewhere with a very sad background. The Dachau Memorial site infamous for its terrible treatment of human beings by a regime the world will never forget. We had visited one of the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz/Birkenau in Poland in 2009 and we thought that would be enough to pay our respects to the millions who died during WW2 and to gain a better understanding of why it was allowed to happen. However, Dachau was slightly different in the Nazi plans for a perfect world for their followers in that it was established as a camp ... read more

Wann wir abfahrt am Dachau ich keine Idee war haben erwaten. Anfang war ich veiwirrt. Es wäre viele Baum uberhaupt ein klein Fluss. Ich bleibt nicht,dass Dachau in ein Vorstadt. Ich wurnderte wie diese Leute über nähre Dacahu leben fühlen. Upon arriving at the front gate of Dachau I immediately fell silent and became very solemn. This feeling and silence was more out of respect for the people who had to experience the awful existence here, but also because of the grim feeling that over took me. One thing that shocked me about myself on this excursion was that I started to become upset with people who were laughing or even couple that were showing signs of affection for one another. This was a phenomena for me because normally my mentality is,” to each is his ... read more

Am heutigen Feiertag habe ich das schöne Wetter genutzt um die KZ-Gedenkstätte in meiner Geburtsstadt Dachau zu besichtigen. Ich bin dazu ohne Probleme von München nach Dachau gefahren. Am Parkplatz habe ich mein Auto abgestellt und bin zuerst zum Besucherzentrum. Ich habe mich wie gewöhnlich gegen einen Audio-Guide entschieden, weil man normalerweise mindestens bis Weihnachten braucht, sich das alles anzuhören und so viel Zeit hatte ich nicht. Dann bin ich in das ehemalige KZ-Gelände. Ich bin zuerst am Zaum entlang Richtung Krematorium und nicht-benutzte Gaskammer. Dann an der russischen, protestantischen, katholischen und jüdischen Gedenkstätte vorbei und zum Karmelitenkloster. Dann die Lagerstraße entlang zu einer rekonstruierten Baracke. Anschließend noch in das Museum. Am Ende habe ich gemerkt, dass ich den Bunker vergessen hatte aber ich bin dann nicht mehr dorthin zurück. Alles in... read more

Due to the sensitive nature of Dachau Concentration Camp I will be separating it from my other blogs. We travelled from Austria into Germany. Our first stop of the day was Dachau Concentration camp. I knew a lot about WW 2 and the concentration camps but had never been to one. On the way there Kate told us about Germany, its history, the concentration camps and WW 2 in general. Dachau was the first concentration camp and initially used to hold Hitler's political prisoners. Eventually it held all the other victims of the Nazis. I was interested in going there but looking forward to it is not the right way to put it. We got there and Kate walked us to the front gate and let us go as we pleased and just told us to ... read more