Today’s visit was at Dachau Concentration Camp. This isn’t going to be a light hearted post since this topic is a very serious topic. Dachau was the first concentration camp in Germany and it served as a model for the other concentration camps. About 48,000 people were killed at this camp and over 118,000 people were housed at this camp. The barracks that they were forced to stay in had a compacity of about 280, but 10x the amount of people were held in them. Like in all concentration camps, the living conditions were horrible and the treatment of the prisoners was also extremely horrible. There is so much awful history at this concentration camp and this history can definitely be felt.

Walking into the camp, it was unreal with seeing everything in person. As an American student, we learned about this history and have saw many documentaries about concentration camps, but actually seeing it in person was a totally different experience. You can feel the intensity of just how bad the environment felt. This place has been used for many horrible things and so you can feel that horrible feeling.

This camp had a lot of tributes to those who died. Memorials to those who died, memorials to those who died and weren’t identified, and memorials to different religous groups that perished in those camps. There were also a lot of imagery of the prisoners and their dead bodies. Looking at these images made me really nauseous due to how intense it was. The intensity of this site stayed with me from the begging with the gate that has the words “Work shall set you free” to all the way the gas chambers.

These concentration camps remind us not to repeat history. These sites still exist to be a reminder to us to not discriminate or give into hatred. As long as we remember the horrible actions of the past, we can push forward to a better future.

This was another memorial in the concentration camps. This artwork memorializes the people who would kill themselves by running into the electric fence. May we never forget the dark stains of the past.