Traveling to Munich was much easier traveling to Paris. On Friday morning, we said goodbye to our host families and got on the train. The train ride was nice since there was no need for any connections. It was a four hour train ride and seemed fairly pleasant. When we got to the central station in Munich we took our bags and walked over to the hotel. There wasn’t much action like Amsterdam, but it was an easy walk over to the hotel. It was only a few blocks away. We were staying in Meininger hostel. The room had 14 beds. It was weird walking in because there was an older man of about forty in the room already. He told us he had been living in the hostel for nearly a month. The lockers didn’t work in the room, so we had to trust the people in there. It was crammed, but we were only paying 20 Euros a night per person. We got settled down, and we went out to eat some food. Luckily, there was an excellent place to eat across the street. It was Augustiner. This restaurant was the stereotypical Bavarian German that we had all been waiting for. Lederhosen and the Dirndl dresses were on the waiters and waitresses. This is a restaurant most Americans think of. Since the American sector was in southern Germany, many people think of Germany as Bavarians. In Bavaria, the restaurants will typically offer Maß’s which are liter beer glasses. Many people ordered this glass which included our table. After eating, we decided to go to the Englischer gardens. This garden is one of the largest urban gardens in the world only trailing Richmond Park in London. We walked around this nice park until we arrived at the Chinesischer Turm. This park of the park included a beer garden with a Chinese Tower. The Chinesischer Turn was first built in 1789 and has five stories. It had seating for the beer garden here. We all sat down, and I ate a huge pretzel. I was a nice way to spend the afternoon. While we were walking in the park, it was raining a little bit. Luckily, I had brought my umbrella and I was protected from the elements. After everyone finished their Maß’s, we went back to the hostel because it had been a long day.
The next day, we woke up and headed over to the Deutsches (German) Museum. The museum was quite interesting and really big. In fact, with 28,000 exhibited objects, it is the world’s largest museum of science and technology. It covered many topics that I couldn’t keep track of. I found it interesting my major of biomedical engineering had such a large exhibit in the museum. The exhibit was labeled nanotechnology and bioengineering. I found this quite interesting because I knew many of the topics that were being discussed. For example, there was an exhibit where a water particle rolled down a ramp. The water particle held its shape throughout the whole way down. This is due to a nanotechnology similar to rain-x. Rain-X is a hydrophobic silicone polymer that forces water to repel against the surface. This is the reason why the water kept its shape. I also learned how in ancient times, people made bronze. This was interesting because it is remarkable that those people were able to make a metal that hot. I could have spent several hours inside the museum, but we decided to leave after two hours. My head was actually a little stress from all the reading material. Since the material was much more complex than a typical science museum, I really had to process the information. After the museum, we went to the Viktualien Markt. This is a daily market where one could find the freshest produce and an assortment of different spices. I ate there at a beer garden with the group. After eating, Andrew, Drew and I headed over to the BMW museum and showroom. It was located near the old Olympic stadium. This unfortunately was the place where a Palestinian terrorist group “Black September” killed members of the Israeli Olympic Team in 1972. The BMW museum was right across the street to the stadium. We first went to the showroom. It was quite large with all of the BMW cars. I had never realized how many different types of BMW’s there were. It seemed like a big advertisement, but it was neat to learn about luxury cars. I even got on one of the motorcycles. That felt pretty cool! Next, we headed over across the catwalk over the street to the actual museum. The museum was pretty cool because it explained how the BMW vehicle has evolved over the years. In fact, one of the actual James Bond 007 cars was on display. It was the actual vehicle used in the film! We also saw a concept car that looked very futuristic. Apparently it was too futuristic and never made it to the market. I also saw these cars that had been painted. Each artist had a different design. My favorite was the war with the flames on it. After the museum, we headed back to the hotel. We ended eating again at Hofbräuhaus.
On Sunday, our group went to Dachau concentration camp. This camp was the first one that the Nazis opened. In 1933, it was described as the first camp for political prisoners. Later it expanded to a camp for all non-Aryans such as Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, and Jehovah Witnesses. Since this camp was the first of its kind, it was a model for the others. This was a statement at the press conference when it opened.
"On Wednesday the first concentration camp is to be opened in Dachau with an accommodation for 5000 people. 'All Communists and—where necessary—Reichsbanner and Social Democratic functionaries who endanger state security are to be concentrated here, as in the long run it is not possible to keep individual functionaries in the state prisons without overburdening these prisons, and on the other hand these people cannot be released because attempts have shown that they persist in their efforts to agitate and organize as soon as they are released.'
This statement explains why the camp was built in the first place. By carefully constructing the words, the Nazis have explained why they must have built this camp. They paint the prisoners as ruthless criminals that have to be contained. Their pure existence will bring down the country.
Walking up to the prison, the gate has the infamous words, “Arbeit macht frei”, which means “Work Sets You Free.” This obviously wasn’t true in most cases. It is funny how the Nazis were able to convince people such lies like this. In fact, they would invite reporters to the camp. They would show them that the prisoners were being treated well, and they were working to improve their ideas and logic. Of course the news reporters were convinced that this camp was necessary. Even the New York Times reported on the camp. The article sites that the 2,000 inmates are gloomy without a smile on their faces. It is a military like structures with discipline and everyone always hard at work. The barracks had to be kept clean. There also were prisoners that were leaders of the other prisoners. The Times provided a schedule of the prisoners and said that the same food is provided to the prisoners as the guards. I find the food statement hard to believe in the article. I don’t believe a guard would actually lower himself to one of the prisoners on any level. This article is important because it tells me that the United States clearly knew about the camps. The entire country had access to information about the injustices that were happening abroad. Unfortunately, the United States had its own issues to deal with. This clearly debunks the theory that the German neighbors didn’t know about the Holocaust. These types of camps certainly cannot be right to anyone in the right frame of mind.
Entering the concentration camp was a different experience than I ever had. I had never been to a place with this amount of suffering and injustice. Even though it is mostly a large field enclosed field with buildings on it, its mere presence really put a deep impression on me. We first walked over to the museum which had been used for different camp functions such as clothes fitting, book keeping, and offices for the guards. The museum was quite interesting and told about the experiences of a typical inmate and how Nazi Germany chose to persecute more and more different types of people. We also saw a movie that explained the experience of the prisoners. Next, I walked around the camp. I went inside the barracks and saw the actual beds, toilets, and tables the prisoners used. They were quite small and stacked like bunk beds. It was very meager living conditions. There were only two barracks, but during the camp there were approximately 38 barracks. The rest of the barracks were represented as gravel. The barracks once stood there. At the end of the camp, there was a Catholic and Protestant Church along with a Jewish memorial. Over to the side of the camp were the crematoriums. There were two buildings. One was an old one while the other was a new one with a shower that had never been used. When I walked inside the new building, it was first an open room. This room was used as a place to put dead. It also served as a place to tell the prisoners to take their clothes off. The next room was the showers. This place was creepy just because of the background behind it. Next were the crematoriums. For whatever reason, the new buildings had never used. I next walked over to the old building. There were only crematoriums in these. This part scared me a little bit because of their use. After walking in this area, I caught up with the rest of the group and left the camp.
Going to the concentration camp will forever implant an image in my memory. This valuable lesson will forever teach me to watch what I say and stand up for injustices. I must remember my experience and know why this happened. Visiting a concentration camp will only benefit the visitors if they know how to prevent this. Even if I don’t think discrimination will lead to a “special prison”, it doesn’t mean it is wrong. History will repeat itself if people let it.
After the camp, we went back into town. To lighten up our moods, we went to Hard Rock Café. I got a large nacho that had American written all over it. It was nice to know that mini-Americas exist all over the world. After dinner, we went back to the hostel because we had an early train ride back to Vienna.
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