The morning of our train ride to we lazily made our way to the station as we had a pretty late night. Our train ride from Switzerland to Munich was about six hours in duration, and I got the chance to sleep a little bit during the train. Anne and I pretty much slept along the train rides, waking up in time to make our connections and made our way like pebbles skipping on water.
Once in Munich, we had a few hours before Anne's friend and ex-roommate, Amelie, would meet us after work. We decided to visit Dachau, the first concentration camp in Germany. It was originally intended to keep political prisoners, but it ended up becoming a final resting point for German and Austrian criminals, foreign nationals that Germany captured, and many individuals of the Jewish population in these countries.
It was quite humbling to be in the midst of such history, to sit in the rooms where individuals behaved as has been described in history books and from first-hand accounts. It saddened my heart to walk through the buildings and read about the events that transpired during the camp's operational years. Walking outside, I looked up at the sky and the beautiful white clouds dotting the calming blue,and I thought what it must have been like to be a part of history at that time. What would it have been like to look up at those skies during that time? I took a minute to sit by the bunker memorial and put myself in the shoes of a guard, believing with all my heart that I was working toward a common goal under a man I had come to admire and respect. I then wondered if there had been workers who feared for their lives and debated whether to keep working for something they were strongly against or risk everything for something they knew in their heart was right.
Most of all, I thought about each person who was brought their against their will, and it took me a lot of self-control to hold my tears back as I walked through the semi-restored rooms where people ate, slept, slaved their lives away, and were tortured and killed. My feelings were limited in their scope as I was only a passerby, an observer of the remnants that make up our historical accounts. As I sat and pondered in the middle of the courtyard where the prisoners were made to stand for hours on end during "roll call", I thought about the nameless, those who for some reason or other didn't become a part of the museum displays, whose name cards were damaged somehow, whose families do not have a concrete account of what loved ones went through. I thought about them and wished some way, in their later hours, something would have shone to each of them to bring them peace in their time of suffering, for those on both ends of the prison walls.
After the visit to Dachau, we met up with Amelie who will be our host for the next few days. She, like Nele, also studied for a few months in San Diego and was excited to meet us both! We took a train and bus to her home and helped with dinner. As we were tired from such a late night and a long train ride, we didn't really have plans for the evening. We also watched the match between Switzerland and Argentina. Having come from Switzerland, my heart was set on seeing the red and white advance, but sadly, their time in the World Cup ended, and I witnessed yet again another team seeing their dreams of winning being abruptly taken from them. As much as I like the World Cup and am excited to watch as one team makes it all the way, I can't help but wish there was some way to just play for fun. Sad faces on the field have always tugged at my heart, whether it is my team who had lost or not. I guess this is the nurturer in me, just wanting everybody to be or have been alright in the end. I'm thankful to have such a relaxing night, and I'm headed off to bed to enjoy French dreams of crêpes as I'm missing speaking my language right about now.
The opening to the camp at Dachau. "Work brings freedom"
Propaganda for the camp.
Trees lining this path...see the blue skies? I sat down with my back against one of those trees and just let my thoughts wander invisibly through the halls of the dilapidated buildings.
The view that prisoners had from their sleeping quarters.
The walkways where history was made are now paths for people like me to take time to ponder and remember.
"Puisse l'exemple de ceux qui furent exterminés ici de 1933-1945 dans la lutte contre le Nazisme faire aie les vivants s'unissent pour défendre la paix, la liberté, et le respect de la personne humaine"
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