Munich and Dachau

From Nuremburg, Beth and I took a train to Munich. We chose to go here because we really wanted to be able to see a concentration camp and castles while in Germany. Munich was the perfect location to be able to do both of those things. We arrived to our hostel around dinner time and headed to the beer hall across the street- apparently the best in Munich. We were seated at a long picnic table with other people and attempted to order out food in German. We fit in here surpassingly well and everyone just assumes we're German. The people on either side of us were super friendly and spoke very good English. Since our waitress did not, they helped us order our food and let us try what they had ordered and their beers. There was a family who was visiting their son who goes to college here on one side of us and some business men on the other. The family was very nice and they even bought and took a shot with us. Being with these people really made the night. We had such a good time. 

Now for the sad part. 

The next morning, we decided I go to Dachau. We knew it was close to Munich but I was shocked to find out it was only a 20 minute train ride. The entire experience was very odd. It's hard to describe what it was like. The hardest part was seeing the pictures and watching the videos. We took a guided tour and our tour guide was incredible. The tour took almost 4 hours but it was worth it. It was rainy and cold for the tour but it sort of added to the experience. She told us so many interesting facts about Dachau and how sadistic the Nazi's were. I'll share a few here but there's just too much and then this post would be even more ridiculously long.  We started the tour walking the same path the prisoners would have taken and she described how when they entered, they would have been greeted by Nazi's whipping them and hitting them with billy clubs. They were told they were leaving their property, rights, and human dignity at the gate. Then they would enter through the famous, "work will set you free doors" and have to endure 25 lashes. The prisoners had to count this out loud and if they lost consciousness during it, they would douse them with cold water and start again. Basically, it was just awful. 

Dachau was built to be the model concentration camp and it was the only one used for the entire war. The ovens ran constantly and more had to be built to keep up with the horrifying amount of deaths. A gas chamber was built but it was never used for a large amount of people. No one is sure why. 

When Dachau first opened, it only housed political prisoners. For the first two years, on Christmas and Hitler's Birthday, a few people would be let free. This was because then they could tell others that it wasn't that bad because they were let free. Obviously once the war started, this was no longer the case. No one left and became a free man. Dachau also only housed men. The barracks were built for 50 men each and at one point, they held 400-500 each. 

Roll was called twice a day and everyone person had to be accounted for- dead as well as alive. At one point, there was over 80,000 people here and every single number had to be called. The longest roll call on record was in January (cold, snowy conditions) and it lasted 12 hours. It was forbidden to use names- only the numbers given to prisoners that were sown onto their uniforms. If you were caught calling someone by their name, you'd be punished. Those are just some of the facts and stories out guide shared with us. 

What made this experience though was that we met a man when we were about to enter standing outside the gates. He told us that he was in Dachau when he was 14 years old. My jaw dropped. Being able to meet a person who had to endure this and live to tell us about it was incredible. He said when he was 15, he was transferred out of Dachau to another camp and then it was liberated. They were put on a train because the end of the war was near and the Nazi's wanted to get rid of them as quickly as they could. When they were in the country side, he jumped off the train and ran to a farm house. There he was given milk and the best, most fresh bread and butter he has ever eaten. When we got up to leave, a Hitler Youth came up behind him and shot him through the neck. The bullet came out through his cheek- we could still see the scar. The Hitler Youth could tell he was still alive and told the man that he could either lay there and he'd shoot him again or get up and walk to the train. The man got up and walked to the train. He said he laid in the train for 3 days with no medical attention, food, or water until the America's found the train. Today, he has a condo in Florida and was very excited to learn that's where we're from. I just can't imagine going through what he has and then coming back to the camp. It made me think how lucky I was to just be able to walk out that gate at the end of the day. I wasn't held prisoner and tortured for no reason. Seeing this gentleman really made the experience once I will truly never forget.