On Friday, May 27, we had the privilege of visiting and touring the Dachau concentration camp, which is now a memorial and museum. I have to say, I was a bit dissapointed at first, simply because I thought it was going to be much more intense then what it was. However, as I mentioned earlier, it really now is a memorial to remember all those lives that were lost, so I guess it makes sense that there wasn't anything really graphic. However, it definitely was very eye opening! Just to think that I was stepping on the same ground that many people lived in and died, it gave me the chills. Not to mention, it was very ironic that at the time during the tour, I was really hungry, and my stomach just kept rumbling the whole time. But that just made me even more depressed, simply because I knew that right after the tour I was going to be able to eat at the cafe there. Where as back then, the people that used to live there felt the same way that I did at the moment, just for longer periods, without knowing when they would be able to eat, and when fed, were limited and had very poor diets.
Furthermore, I really loved our tour leader. The fact that she was a lawyer, and she knew all this history, and even more, really made an impression on me. She was not only very intelligent, but very passionate as well! Which made the whole tour even more enjoyable. The one place that shocked me the most though was definitely the prison, where members of the SS or prisoners were taken and held, when doing things considered "inappropriate" or "breaking the rules". As soon as I got to walk the prison on my own, I got even more chills, not only because it was chilly in there, but because again, I was thinking about how people back then were really imprisoned there, without food, water, and appropriate clothing, locked in cells for long periods, once again, not knowing when you would be released or fed. All I could think about is how cold it must have been there during the winter, simply because there was currently 80 degree weather outside at the time, and I was still cold when inside the prison. Overall though, I'm really fortunate to have visited Dachau, simply because
The Holocaust is such an important event in our history, that I feel that everyone should know about it and explore, to prevent something so horrible as this from ever happening again.
Till then,
-Ivan Almendariz
On Friday, May 27, we had the privilege of visiting and touring the Dachau concentration camp, which is now a memorial and museum. I have to say, I was a bit dissapointed at first, simply because I thought it was going to be much more intense then what it was. However, as I mentioned earlier, it really now is a memorial to remember all those lives that were lost, so I guess it makes sense that there wasn't anything really graphic. However, it definitely was very eye opening! Just to think that I was stepping on the same ground that many people lived in and died, it gave me the chills. Not to mention, it was very ironic that at the time during the tour, I was really hungry, and my stomach just kept rumbling the whole time. But that just made me even more depressed, simply because I knew that right after the tour I was going to be able to eat at the cafe there. Where as back then, the people that used to live there felt the same way that I did at the moment, just for longer periods, without knowing when they would be able to eat, and when fed, were limited and had very poor diets.
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