Apr 18 2008
Reflections on Dachau
Click here to watch our students react to their experiences at Dachau.
Archive for April 18th, 2008
Apr 18 2008
Day 2 — Dachau
As I walked through the gates of Dachau, it sent a chilling sensation down my spine. Written on the gate are the words “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” which means “work will set you free”. This is a motto I’ve heard so many times and now I am seeing it. The countless notes I’ve taken in class on the Holocaust, Hitler, and Germany have become even more real. Reading memoirs and biographies is a lot different from standing in the same spot where pure evil resided. We toured the whole camp and saw that there were only two barracks accessible out of the 60 that originally existed. This means that 58 of the barracks were destroyed because of disease infestation. The unbelievable part was that each barrack was used to house thousands of prisoners. The living conditions in the barracks were unfathomable and fit for no man. It makes you wonder what kind of sadistic individual would want to create hell on earth.We visited the crematory and learned that the building consisted of several rooms. In the first room, prisoners were told they would be given showers. The next room was where the prisoners removed their clothing for the showers. It was the third room where we saw the gas chambers. To stand where thousands and thousands of people were killed was extremely difficult. My heart dropped as I attempted to walk through the doorway. I actually couldn’t do it, but many of my classmates did. A significant part of our tour was walking through the museum on the camp grounds. I was struck by the pictures that I saw of the prisoners. Just looking in their eyes I could imagine all the things that these people could have become. They could have been doctors, lawyers and maybe even the next scientists who discovered the cures for the diseases that plagued the camps.
