From Moonshine to Sunshine: 7/16: Dachau Day Trip

Travel days have started really wearing us out, so we tend to sleep late the following morning. Today, our destination was the Dachau Memorial Site, and we got a late morning start to the train station. Electing not to pay 40€ for breakfast at our hotel, we just bought two kebabs for a quick meal near the station.

At the terminal, we were able to take advantage of Munich's wonderful transportation network to purchase "München XXL" day passes for unlimited day transportation in and immediately outside the Munich area (where Dachau was located).

The train trip to the Dachau Bahnhof was about twenty minutes, followed by a five minute bus ride to the Memorial Site. Admission to the site is free, which is proper--I hope there aren't ANY Holocaust memorials that charge admission.

We walked up a gravel path from the bus stop to enter the main gate at the Jourhaus, known infamously for its wrought-iron phrase: "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Makes You Free." It gave me a chill, thinking about the thousands who read that ironic phrase in their last moment as free men.

From the Jourhaus gate, we entered onto the Roll Call ground, then walked into the southern bunker area where "Special Prisoners" were kept, tortured, and murdered.

Somber.

In this wing of the memorial site, several of the old cells were open for you to examine the small living quarters, and there were explanatory placards about some of the more well-known captives kept here. A few excerpts from survivors' firsthand accounts were on display as well.

From the bunker, we moved into the large Maintenance Building (now the museum), which was built by early prisoners of Dachau. This structure housed camp facilities as well as the degrading registration area where prisoners were symbolically stripped of their individuality.

The museum was quite thorough, with a couple rooms devoted entirely to explaining how the Third Reich rose to power, and how that power was corrupted by hate. The Shower Room of the building detailed how the room doubled as a torture facility, where prisoners were often beaten by horsewhips...

Above: A torture table with lash attached on top for exhibition. Nazis are assholes.

...or hung by their arms(hands tied behind their backs) for hours, called "pole hanging."

From the middle of the Maintenance Building, you could step outside for a breath of fresh air, though it was tempered by the sight of the Dachau Memorial Sculpture, which stood maybe twelve feet high and thirty feet wide. It depicted malnourished bodies caught in barb wire--a sad reality at the camp when prisoners could not take any more hunger and hate, electing to throw themselves into the electrified fence instead.

We unfortunately had to rush through the latter half of the museum, because we learned too late that the site closed at 5pm. It was a pity, because there was MUCH to be learned about the final years of the camp and the horrors perpetrated by its administrators. The experience was nearly unbelievable.

Above: A photo of corpses stacked next to the "death chamber" of the infirmary.

Outside, we moved past a memorial to the ashes of an unknown Dachau victim, then on to one of the reconstructed Barracks so we could see how the prisoners lived.

"Never Again"

Past these two remade barracks were concrete & gravel markers where the 32 other barracks once stood. Originally designed to hold 200 prisoners each, the barracks were stuffed with as many as 2,000 people by the end of the war. I acknowledge that this is an understatement, but my God, the Nazis were inhumane.

Barracks

We walked up the quiet gravel camp road between the rows of barracks. At the end of this road was a memorial chapel, the Mortal Agony of Christ Catholic Chapel, flanked by the Jewish chapel on its right, and the German Protestant chapel on its left. Obviously, these facilities were built recently.

Above: Markers of concrete and gravel stand where the barracks once were.

On the NW corner of the camp, we crossed the ditch and barb wire (once electrified) to the gate leading to the Crematoriums. It was after 5pm so the gate was locked, though we could see one of the buildings around the bend in the path. I was slightly relieved that we were unable to enter the crematoriums. We'd seen stock photos of the facility in the museum, with bodies lined and stacked awaiting cremation. The sight of the actual facility may have been too repulsive.

We walked back along the perimeter of the camp, noting with sadness how peaceful it would otherwise be if it weren't the site of tremendous genocide. Exiting the camp through the Jourhaus again, I looked back at the wrought iron inscription and realized how precious few would have seen the gate as an exit.

Catching the bus back to the station, we boarded a train back to Munich, and elected to stay on until the central stop of the city at Marienplatz. We ascended from the metro tunnel into a very lively scene. The plaza was dominated by the towering Gothic town hall building, called the Neues Rathaus. The exterior was ornate stonework, with a large glockenspiel of dancers and knights that moved and twirled three times a day--though we'd missed the last performance.

The plaza was chock full of people walking, drinking, or photographing. The cafés lining the square were doing some serious business. From here, the only sight I knew how to locate was the Frauenkirche to the northwest, recognizable for its twin onion domes.

Above: Stock photo of Frauenkirche

We arrived ten minutes before the church closed at 7pm, so we had just enough time to tour around inside, gazing on the stained glass and the landmark "devil's footprint" in the narthex.

Above: According to legend, the Devil stood here to mock the church for having no windows, though this is the only spot in the church where the interior columns block your view of the stained glass lining both sides.

After being escorted out of the church at closing, we walked west along pedestrian Kaufingerstrasse, passing beneath an old city gate, to Karlsplatz, another well-known plaza with a giant fountain in the center. This seemed to be a popular spot for families and kids, especially on hot days.

From Karlsplatz we walked home, and, due partly to a lack of options and mostly to my desire for Round 2, we returned to Augustiner Braustuben for dinner on their terrace beer garden. Out there, we chatted up three Germans who worked for BMW and were confused by us drinking water along with our beers (we'd been dehydrated since morning). I admit I felt a little bit sissy, but the beers were too strong to drink with dehydration and hunger.

We ate Maultaschen, cheese noodles, and then Annie ordered a big-ass blueberry pancake for dessert (I ordered a delicious Dunkel, or dark beer). After another satisfying experience at the brewery, we returned home to plan our big trip to King Ludwig's castles tomorrow.