Dachau Concentration Camp

This is not being posted on the day that I visited Dachau, for many reasons, but mainly because I wanted time to reflect and gather my thoughts.

This will be one of my sadder and darker posts, but I do not want to sugar coat anything. I'm not too sure where to start, so I will follow the path that we took around the grounds.

So on a cloudy day we met up with Christoph, Diana's cousin, who is also a school teacher who had recently done the tour of Dachau with his school, so was able to take us around at our own pace. It was very handy having our own personal guide whose mind is rich with knowledge.

 As we entered through the gates, you could feel the atmosphere and energy drop. As if we were in a daze we fell silent and somberly made our way to the main building.

 Work sets you free.

The main building.

These are the outlines of all the barracks.

Inside the main building where detailed information has been set up.

Where they slept.

This is where the edge of the perimeter was, and the wall, impossible the escape. Knowing that people had died trying to escape, or purposely run there to get shot, it felt so strange to be able to walk freely over the line where the wall was.

The exterior of the "showers".

The "showers", also known as the gas chamber. I know that this photo isn't the best quality, but I feel like the shadows correctly portray the atmosphere.

The crematorium.

This was the prison, where there were standing cells, and many other torturous punishments.

Diana and I were discussing the difference between Dachau and the Documentation centre. She found the Documentation centre heavier. Because the rooms were small and dark, with writing lit up and the atmosphere was generally darker, compared to Dachau which is mostly outdoors. Personally I found Dachau heavier, because there was time in between buildings, it gave me time to reflect, and for my mind to run away with me. Like when we were walking out of the grounds and towards the "showers", I could imagine the lifeless limbs, pale and fatigued, with crumbling shoulders and dragging feet as they trudged along, heads bowed in surrender. I could imagine the limp and lifeless bodies in a tangled heap on the floor of the gas chamber. Or you could imagine it, simply, as the gas chamber, nothing more to it.

I think to truly understand what it is like, you have to be there. You have to stand where they were stripped of their pride, their family, and life. You have to stand where they stood for hours on end. You have to walk across the gravel where their fatigued heart broke. You have to breathe where their breath was taken away. 

From when I left Dachau, for the rest of the day I was trying to think of a word to sum up my experience. That night when I was skyping with my dad, I explained it to him as exposing, revealing.

It for me, exposed the dark and unpredictable side of human nature. It showed me what we are truly capable of, and that parts of this still exists in society today. Only the majority of people simply choose to ignore it. It revealed the pure evil and insanity we are surrounded with.

That is all for now, 

Isla x