August 2011

From Nürnberg, I headed towards Munich. Dachau is one hour out of Munich. From Munich, it took 2 trains, and a bus to get there. It was an eerie experience to walk through so much history and anguish. Having read so many accounts and experiences of prisoners and people who managed to escape or survive broke my heart for months after my trip through Europe. This is truly an incredibly heart wrenching place to walk through, but I think is extremely necessary to see what cruelty humans are capable of committing to another.

Dachau – “Eine Welt ohne Gott.” (translation: “A world without God,” a prisoner account from Father Sales Hess (1941-1945) in Dachau concentration camp.

Arbeit macht Frei. Translation: Work will make you free

Entrance to where the prisoners were sent to take a “bath.”

Inside the “baths” (gas chamber)

Photograph of the prisoners in these striped pajamas. One should watch “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” (available on Netflix) which is the adaptation of the book by John Boyne.

Reasoning behind the concentration camps

The camp started with the motto of “Arbeit macht frei,” to something entirely different.