Today we went to Dachau, Germany, known for the concentration camp that occurred during WWII. We got the Dachau at about 10 for our guided tour which was great and he told us about the history of Germany and then got further into details throughout the tour. I learned so much. To start, we went into the barracks where the prisoners were kept and ‘slept’. Said barracks are supposed to fit a maximum of 208 people but there were 2,180 in each instead. The camp became so overpopulated so quickly, and I learned about what each badge meant like brown for gypsies and pink for homosexuals, so that people like the guards or the capos which means guard in Italian knew why they were at the camp. These guards actually came from previous prisons, these were rapists, murderers, etc. who were in charge of getting the prisoners to their meal times and keeping them in line, including torturing them. They were fat, well-fed, and given single rooms and allowed to have a cat. Rapists and murderes were allowed food and to torture other innocent people and that really stuck with me that this time period was so illogical. I learned about the medical experiments they did on the prisoners to assist in German war efforts like the altitude test where they would see how low of pressure they can expose someone to before needed medical assistance, same with the intense ice baths so if a fighterjet was shot down, how long did they have until the person died from the cold water temperatures below and how slow could their heart rate get before being revived with a full recovery. Also, disabled people were so fronwed upon especially children, that the infirmary’s in Germany made promises and advertising that families should send their children to them to get the top of the line care from these doctors, and then every single family received a postcard that the person died during their time in rehab and they will be cremated. That was it. The end of their life just like that. It’s hard to believe how meaningless and heartless this period was. I learned that nearby neighbors and people of the community could actually come and ‘rent’ a prisoner or several and use them as slaves as they pleased for things like farming and gardening. The conditions were 1) I believe 6 ‘dollars’ a day, and you were responsible for feeding/housing them, and 2) making sure they didn’t escape. If they died while in your presence, for 4 ‘dollars’ you could have your prisoner cremated and get the ashes of the person to use as fertilizer, and 80% of farmers did choose this option during this time, which is insane. There were 160 guards on duty in a single day shift, so they were so closely watched that only 1 prisoner ever escaped successfully and managed to get away to Spain somehow. The rest purposely would run into the electric wires that fenced the entire camp to end their suffering, the average prisoner weighed 60 pounds and shared a bed with 2 others. I was surprised to see so much open space at the camp and to see that the original barracks were actually torn down due to hygienic reasons as well as architectural. Later in the tour we moved to the gas chambers and crematorium and that’s when I really started feeling uneasy. We walked through the exact place the prisoners were told they were going to have a nice shower and they were lied to up until the very last moments of their life, they were told to be sure to remember where they put their shoes for after the shower so it wasn’t mixed up with others. The gas chambers were large rooms with spouts that resembled shower heads to deter any kind of resistance from the prisoners getting into them, the reason for the chambers was also so soldiers didn’t have to decide to kill a women in front of her children first or vice versa as well as to kill mass amounts of people at once. I enjoyed learning about the man who attempted to assassinate Hitler and it only didn’t work because Hitler left where he was earlier than supposed to for a flight to Berlin, the man bombed the place and the roof caved exactly where Hitler was standing, but instead it killed 8 others and injured 60. So it failed and the man was imprisoned that night and sent to Dachau where he was killed after spending time in the ‘special’ prison in solitary confinement.

I think I learned the most during this visit out of all of the days here. I remember times in my life when I would visit my mom’s classroom for bring your child to work day and every year since it was at the same time, she was teaching the same thing, the Holocaust. She always made me do something else while she taught or had The Boy in the Striped Pajamas playing for her students. I knew about the Holocaust since then regardless but actually going to a site was insane. I can’t even begin to imagine Auschwitz and I am not sure, if even given the chance, that I would really want to. Today made me upset, and not just because I am sad for the people there or the torture, but for the fact that things like this are unsure to happen again as our tour guide said. It’s a terrifying thought that fight over religion can come to such an extent, and for ‘optimal’ genetics. I’m disgusted.

Overall, today was uneasy but the experience was something I will always remember seeing and learning about, that’s for sure.