Today was definitely the hardest day of all so far. We visited Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp. Though this is not the biggest nor most famous of all concentrations it is very important. Dachau was used as a model concentration camp to show to outsiders that what the Nazis were doing was not as bad as what others were saying.
The reason for Dachau not being a main execution camp is due to it being near Hitler’s hometown. He didn’t want Germany to take the blame, therefore all the main execution camps were out of Germany. For example, Auschwitz was in Poland which is the biggest and most popular concentration camp. Though this was not a main execution camp there were more than 200,000 imprisoned and 42,000 that died. The death rate is mainly due to the living conditions for the prisoners. Dachau was also the location for many medical experimentations which caused even more deaths.
What touched me the most might have been the sculpture at the front of the camp which was a representation of prisoners running into the electric fence due to the torture they endured everyday. I also was disgusted to hear how the Germans lied to their own citizens to send them their disabled relatives and tell them they were going to heal them. This however was a lie. You could guess the next part.
Finally at the end of our tour we went into the crematory, gas chamber, and the barrack. This was definitely a really emotional part of the tour. In the crematory , there were the original chambers where people were sent. Dachau never sent in someone who was still alive. The gas chamber almost got me. There were what looked like inscriptions on the wall which was sad to see. What was really tough was that this process took 2-3 hours and they tricked the prisoners to get in the chamber. The barrack was a prison for “special” prisoners. I didn’t get an eerie feeling all day until I entered in there. The barrack was huge and every room looked the same with a few exceptions for a prayer room and more. Though this part was difficult, I think it is necessary that we face the hard truth in order to not repeat history.
