A couple of weeks ago we went to Munich to celebrate Rick's 28th birthday. Rick is a huge history buff and especially WWII. We are in the perfect place for him, so we took advantage. We visited the Dachau concentration camp, Hofbrauhaus, and went on a walking tour of Hitler and the Third Reich. I will try and explain the experience and post some pictures.
When walking into Dachau there is a small sign in the metal gate which translates to, "work will make you free." Very similar to Auschwitz. As soon as you walk through the gate you are on the roll call grounds. Roll call was held every day. Role call could take hours because every prisoner had to be accounted for. Many mornings prisoners had to bring the deceased to roll call; this concentration camp was affected with Typhus and they could not keep up with the deceased. Dachau was originally constructed to hold only 6,000 people. Before liberation there were over 60,000 people and at liberation there were 31,000 people. There are a group of nuns that currently live on Dachau. They were the Carmelitan which lead the lives of hermits. They came to Europe in the 16th century; the donor of this church was a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp.
The entrance
The church on the grounds
Today you will find many monuments and tributes on the grounds; they are beautiful tributes. The hardest and most emotional part of the camp was the crematorium. Outside of the crematorium were mass graves. There was a walkway outside of the crematorium that were lined with mass graves as well as the execution sites. We were able to enter the crematorium and see the incinerators as well as walk into the gas chamber. This building was very emotional and had very few dry eyes. As I said before the camp was stricken by Typhus and the Nazis could not keep up with the bodies. The gas chamber was not used like in other camps, but it was used at least once to let Hitler know that it was working. The Germans actually changed their word Bathhaus due to the negative experience many had with the concentration camps.
The crematorium
The bathhaus/ gas chamber
During our walking tour we were able to see the headquarters of the Nazi party, a local cafe that Hitler would visit, the guest house that Mussolini would stay in when visiting, art museums, bier houses that Hitler would address his initial speeches. I had no idea that the start of the Nazi party was in Munich.
Hitler's office was located above this balcony.
Nazi headquarters
We did get to do some fun things while in Munich. We visited the Hofbrauhaus where Rick celebrated his birthday with a liter of Dunkel bier (dark beer). We got to eat at an Indian restaurant, and a German restaurant where we ate knuckle. The kunckle was a pork dish that they roast for hours. It was delicious. We hope to make it up to Munich again and enjoy more of the history of this great town!
