10/05/2007: Oktoberfest Day 3

Friday:

On Friday the 5th we woke up went to see the Dachau concentration camp. The concentration camp has the not so pleasant distinction of being the first such camp created by the Nazis. Bavaria, and particularly Munich was instrumental to Hitler's rise to power, and it was only fitting that this monument to the Nazis attrocities is just an hour out of Munich.

As a brief background from Wikipedia:
"In total, over 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 countries were housed in Dachau of which nearly one-third were Jews. 25,613 prisoners are believed to have died in the camp and almost another 10,000 in its subcamps, primarily from disease, malnutrition and suicide."

Below you can see the gate as we entered:

The main grounds:

A picture used for propaganda purposes showing the detainees standing for role call. There was a lengthy discussion about the symbolism behind the photo, in that it was taken at a downward angle as a means to imply that the people were inferior. Roll call lasted several hours, and people were made to stand perfectly still, including the diseased and dying.

A monument outside the museum.

Here's the fence along one side. You can see the reconstructed barracks on the left. There are only 2 of the many (see the next picture) that once stood.

The concrete pads you see on the left and right of the path are from the different barracks.

The crematorium.

This from inside the gas chamber, although there was no evidence that it was ever used.

And thus ended out trip to Dachau. All in all it was a very interesting and informative trip. There was a surprisingly large museum that gave a pretty extensive history of not only the camp, but also the war. There was also a powerful video that they were playing.

However, despite this, I hate to admit it I don't feel that it hit me in the same way as leaving the Peace Museum in Hiroshima. Part of that reason may be a perspective issue. Going into Hiroshima I had the perspective that we had to drop the bomb, we had no choice, and to be blunt, they were asking for it. After working our way through the museum I learned a lot that I had never known.

Although I can not possibly ever imagine what it must have been like to endure the torture that these people were subjected to, I guess by now we've seen numerous films and documentaries that probably are more powerful than walking through the grounds of a now well trimmed and taken care of death camp. Additionally, unlike Hiroshima, there's no lasting controversy. Everyone except Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledges that the Halocaust was bad. At any rate, it was amazing and powerful to see, but I guess not quite what I expected.

Regardless, afterwards we had to go and put some of those awful images out of our mind. When I write this down, and I follow all the previous pictures with what's to come I feel like an asshole, but well, eh fuck it here's some pictures of us drinking:

Here's me with some Russian guys. They were friendly and interesting. I had to ask them what they thought of Putin, because the more I talk to people out here (particularly in Sweden and Norway) that guy scares the shit out of me. At any rate, they called him a dictator, which is nice to see that they realize that, but makes you wonder why he's so popular. Then again, G-Dub got reelected to a second term, so Americans aren't one to talk.

Evan and I with some security guards on the night out.

The security guards were hardly the most thorough (as evidenced by the glasses we're in the process of borrowing), although they were friendly and fun (aside from the guy on the right). On the way out, this time it was Evan who had his cup removed from him, proving once again the existence of Karma!