May 12th, 2019

Today marks the start of week two. Yesterday was a fun day, but the mood for today was going to be much different while it is spent at Dachau, one of the most infamous and largest labor camps during the Holocaust in World War II. It was raining and cold out when we left at 8:50 for Dachau 

I had been nervous all week for the trip. I was worried about what we would be seeing and how graphic it would be. I knew it was important to go through an experience like this to be aware of what really went on during this time in war ridden Germany. I know I wasn’t the only one who was hesitant about the trip either. We had discussed all week that if anybody was uncomfortable or disturbed that we would be able to debrief at the end of the day. 

The bus trip was about an hour, and the weather was very telling of the kind of day it would be. I have a relatively good knowledge of ww2 history and specifically the concentration camps. We discuss this history basically every year in high school because of its preveñance and horrific reality. 

The tour started in the administrative building, and right away we walked through the gates just like the prisoners would. Dachau was only

25% Jewish and the rest were anybody who opposed Hitlers ideals politically as well as anybody from a foreign country. Dachau was a labor camp, in the beginning it was more like a prison. Nobody was required to shave their heads or wear humiliating outfits and numbers. Within no time at all, people were working themselves to death, starving and being tortured on the grounds. Walking through the gate that reads “work will set you free” was unreal. We read about these gates in history books and now I am here.

Walking through each building, especially crematories and gas chambers, and knowing the 200,000 men women and children that worked 12 hour days and to their death was so hard to believe. All over the fields of gravel were walls with messages in memory of those who died in Dachau and “Never Again”.

After the tour through the whole camp grounds, we were given time to walk through the museum. Here there were personal belongings collected upon the arrival of prisoners, biographies, and images of the real people who suffered through the cruel torturous time in Dachau.

Seeing and hearing about all the innocent people who suffered the way they did was obviously a lot to take in. We had nothing left on the itinerary for the day so everybody could relax and catch up on work.

After heading back my group had planned to meet with our Continental group to possibly get some work done, but we did not end up going to the University. Instead, most of us stayed in the hotel lobby working on/publishing blogs because the first 7 were due tonight. A large group of us decided to go back to Arkadas for döner sandwiches again! This time when we went, the owner recognized our group and was chatting with us for a while! He told us to come back again before we left!

Back at the hotel we all pretty much just worked on our blogs and got ready for our last site visit tomorrow!

Tomorrow: Final company visit at SGL and group project work