Dachau- Never Again

Never again does not mean I’d never go back. I actually think everyone who has the chance to visit should.  It’s even required that once children going to school in Germany enter 8th grade they are to visit and be educated on what happened.  It’s not a visit that you enjoy and to say my feelings are all over the place on this would be an understatement.

No amount of documentaries, movies, books or photos could prepare me for how I felt upon entering the gates at Dachau.  The rot iron gate at the entrance reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” or work sets you free.  For the 100s of thousands of humans that entered those gates, the only way they would really become free would be to die.

Even after the liberation of the camp on  April 29, 1945, an additional 7,000 humans died. They survived the brutal and barbaric conditions under Hitler, Himmler and the SS, only to fall to their death when freedom was at their fingertips.

On the site of Dachau, which is now a memorial, there are 5 different denominations of churches or places of worship, Protestant, Catholic, Carmelite, Jewish and Russian Orthodox.

  These places of worship continue to hold services today. When the bulk of my tour was complete our guide encouraged us to spend some time in the museum.  I chose to visit each of the churches instead.  Oddly enough, I felt a sense of belonging in every one of them and prayed the same prayer in each one that our world never see something like this again.  This wasn’t or isn’t just a “German thing”.  It’s a human thing that happens when there is Fear.

I will end with a saying that is outside the “Krematorium” which in reality was a death factory, not a Crematorium.  When someone is cremated it is a sign of respect for their body and life and at Dachau and all the other camps, it was done to extinguish life.

Denket daran wie wir hier starben.  Think of how we Died  Here.