Dachau

Today, we went to the Dachau concentration camp. I am still not entirely sure how I felt about being there. I was definitely disturbed by what I saw, and it was really hard for me to imagine what a day inside the camp must have been like. My heart literally hurt and seemed to pound in my chest as we walked around the camp grounds. I cannot believe people were so cruel and heartless to those staying there. Ruthless torture is hard for me to imagine. When our tour guide continued to say that only 40,000 people had died there, I felt somewhat sick that we could say ONLY 40,000 died although I realize this is a small number in comparison to the extermination camps. It really was a hell on earth. I saw a group of younger girls smiling and taking a picture outside of the barracks they live in, and I also felt a tinge of disgust. I understand taking pictures to show others the place, but to take a picture smiling in a place of such horror just seemed so wrong to me. The crematorium was awlful. I cannot picture what went on there during those days. I cannot imagine the smell. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for the prisoners who were forced to work there. Such horror seems so foreign to me, and when we were there, I had to remind myself that these horrendous events actually did take place on the soil I was on. I'm glad we went. I think everyone needs to see it, to realize what happened there, and to understand that the events that took place in those camps are actual realities and not just horrors we read about in text books.