A powerful, deep day was awaiting us all week. Our trip to Dachau began with meeting our wonderful tour guide, who expressed that this tour will be heavy yet informing. As an American, we have been taught about the Nazis and concentration camps all throughout our primary school years. With movies, books, and documentaries I have come across, I still was not prepared with what I was going to see. While it was a beautiful day out, the camp came across as cold, dark, and gloomy. First thing that caught my eye was how open and big the concentration camp was. I also learned quickly that the concentration camp was not only for Jews but other people from different countries and people with political status. We went through the barracks where they stayed (even though they were replicas), the crematory, bathrooms, gas chambers, and where bishops and people who had significance had their own barrack that was nicer.

Throughout these places, our guide gave an emotional and descriptive explanation of each place which made the experience even more powerful. Another thing that I did not know was that with Dachau being the first concentration camp and close to where Hitler was doing work, it was not an “extermination camp” that killed the people in it like Auschwitz or other camps. While it had over 42,000 deaths, that was very little compared to other camps and only performed one mass massacre. I am now extremely interested in learning more about the other concentration camps and on Hitler’s leadership. I was at a loss for words while going through the tour and taking everything thing. It was a humble experience that touched everyone that went.