After a long day in Munich, we visited the World War II concentration camp Dachau on Sunday. I’m a history minor at Pitt with a focus on WWII and the Holocaust. “Excitement” isn’t the word I would use to describe how I felt about going, but I was looking forward to learning more about the camp and experiencing the atmosphere firsthand. As perhaps the greatest tragedy in history, it’s no surprise that the emotions at a Holocaust site are dark and heavy. The tour began with a walk through the recreated barracks, where 2,000 prisoners were crammed into a building meant for only 200. All they were given was a burlap sack and some straw. Prior to the war, conditions were not nearly as horrific as they became once the war began. Prisoners were given little to no food, tortured for even making their beds incorrectly, and forced to live in barracks riddled with disease.
As unsettling as that part of the tour was, walking through the showers that were used as gas chambers and seeing the crematory where bodies were burned was even more unnerving. I have never experienced the kind of emotion I felt while walking through those showers. It’s a feeling that’s truly indescribable—you can almost hear echoes of screams and sense that something unspeakably terrible happened between those walls. Although Dachau was not classified as a death camp, 40,000 prisoners still died there during its 12 years of operation. In the deadliest of death camps, like Auschwitz, that many people could die in just a single day. This tragic time in history must be remembered and learned from. I believe the Germans have done a commendable job confronting their past and learning to live with that generational guilt.
Visiting a site like Dachau is depressing and deeply saddening, but I believe it’s an experience everyone should have. Our tour guide was wonderful—very knowledgeable—and he ended the tour with a powerful story. He had served in the German army and helped liberate a camp in Czechia. He shared photos of the prisoners there, who looked eerily similar to those once held at Dachau. The takeaway is clear: learning about history is essential to prevent its repetition. The Czech camp he referenced was from the 1990s—just about 30 years ago. Anyone who truly understands the Holocaust and the devastating consequences of genocide would never be doomed to repeat it. The more we learn from history, the better chance humanity has at building a compassionate, peaceful future.
