Visiting this artifact of WWII was the first group outing after arriving in Germany. It is an eye-opening experience for first time visitors and continues to move me every time we come. A "must see" to understand our history and US-German relations.

Being into international history, we took a break from the Oktoberfest activities to see Dachau. (It's an easy day trip by train from Munich.) When you first walk through the gates, you pass under a sign in German that translates to "Work makes you free". It was pretty frightening. To the left of the entrance there are old barracks that housed the prisoners. They are all torn down now except for two that you can walk through. However, the foundations are still in place and you can see the rows where the barracks used to be. It gives you an idea of how many people were there. Then you walk into the barracks museum and see how many people can be in each one, and then see pictures of how they crammed more in. The walls are thin, not insulated, and there were a couple of large windows. There are pictures of each area to show what it was like when it was an active camp. The saddest ones were pictures of the people in their "beds". It was beyond terrible.

To the right of the gate there is another building that houses a museum that you can walk around in, and there is a film that shows the camp's role from the beginning of the war through the end. The museum has political history exhibits, models of the camp, and then some personal effects that were retained by the Nazis when the prisoners (mostly Jews) unprocessed. Records logs, photographs, glasses, and watches are among some of the displays. There are pictures around showing what each room was used for - some for storing clothing and suitcases, and others for bodies. Then you progress through the building and come to what used to be the torture chambers. If you stop and read the displays you may lose your lunch. It's very cruel and sickening to think about what used to go on in that room. Some of the torture devices are set up with an explanation, and are absolutely heart wrenching. It's very sad.

There are a few chapels on the grounds, and another place where special prisoners were kept and you can see what the cells were like. It's a long, dim hallway and very creepy.

The eeriest place on the grounds though were the torture chambers in the museum half, and the gas showers and ovens on another side of the camp. You actually have to walk back further than the entrance, I suggest using a map to find it. You can walk around in them although most people are a little afraid to. I'm not one for believing in ghosts, but the sadness in this place makes it seem haunted. Seeing the pictures of the room filled might make you sick. I certainly didn't feel right when I left.

We ended our visit by seeing the chapels last. I think we needed it. I think Dachau is definitely worth visiting. But be prepared... it's not a happy place.

It was hard for me to pick a category for this to go under; it seems as if it should have its own, because no other single identifier seems appropriate. Eugen Kogon said "the significance of this name (Dachau) will never be erased from German history. It stands for all concentration camps which the Nazis established in their territory" And in many ways that could well sum up my entire review of this unexpected part of my trip to Germany. It seems a deep injustice to even attempt to review it in under 500 words, so forgive my lack of space here and try to understand the weight with which I still carry the experience.

When I first learned I would be making a trip around Europe, one of the very top things on my list to see was a concentration camp in Germany. It may sound a little bit dark, but I've always been deeply interested in the history surrounding WW2 and the Holocaust, and the fact that such a thing occurred so recently in our history. And I had wanted to see first hand where these events took place. I can tell you quite seriously that I can neither recommend, or unrecommended such a place. I openly and easily tell people from the moment I first arrived there, that being in Dachau was the worst thing I've ever experienced. But that does not mean I wish I hadn't done it. I went into it with a purely historical interest in the site, and no superstitions or fears whatsoever, (not being a person so inclined) and yet the moment I set foot through the gates (which still have guard towers that hang dark and ominous over the fenced in camp) I wanted nothing more in the world than to be far away. If you have any desire to get an idea of what the experience may have been like...even in the smallest way, then I could do no less than recommend it. But it is not an easy thing to bear, and I am not someone usually moved by such things.

I spent most of my time in Dachau, wandering in freezing rain, head bent feeling the most vast sense of surrounding sorrow I have ever experienced. Every stone seemed to remember what had happened there, and the tall trees planted by the prisoners there some 60 years ago waved tall along the walk to the Crematoria Area, even more mournful. It is all too recent, the memories there are strong. I watched other tourists, who had simply come along for the sight seeing standing in the rain in the courtyard in tears. Not one or two. Dozens. Men and women. Young and old. Teenagers on school trips weeping for something that earlier in the day they knew little about. It is an experience unlike any other, and if you have the desire and the will to go, be prepared to take away something you will carry forever.

Rather than write this review as an Experience, which provides three-times the space, I decided on Historical Site for ease of access. I’ve added two valuable links for those who wish to really learn about what happened here: The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Website and the Wikipedia entry for Dachau Concentration Camp. Click for more information.

We took the S-Bahn to Dachau and then boarded a bus to the memorial. Entering the site of the camp is like entering another world. I went to the museum first. The personalization of the exhibits in the museum, including photographs and letters, is very powerful. I don’t understand those who try to deny the "Holocaust" by alleging it to be a Zionist invention, as it also totally ignores the millions of Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, politically liberal, and religious Germans that were massacred here and elsewhere.

Behind the museum, I strolled past the cells in the bunker set up for "VIP" prisoners, and then walked over to the entry gate with its cynical message, "Arbeit macht frei," (Work makes you free), and the large roll call area. I spent time in a reconstructed barrack, where 1600 prisoners were crammed into a space meant for 250. Walking towards the rear of the camp across a huge empty space, I could see the foundations of the old barracks. At the rear of the camp, I visited each of the four chapels, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Russian Orthodox. Behind the back wall there is a Carmelite cloistered convent. The nuns constantly pray for atonement. Later, my companion Tom says, "There can be no atonement." The horrors outweigh any attempt to balance the scales. I think, "Perhaps he’s right," as I look at the crematorium ovens.

Later, I place a stone, which joins many others, on the marble monument that proclaims, "Never Again." I wish I believed that. Putting a stone on a burial place is a Jewish tradition to honor the dead. Dachau was not a death camp, per se. It was, among other things, a holding area for Auschwitz and Treblinka where millions were put to death. That's not to say prisoners weren’t shot, beaten, experimented on, or worked and starved to death here—at least 33,000 of them.

History is rife with bursts of ethnic based killing. No group, though, did it the cold-blooded, efficient, and planned way the Nazi’s did. The dozens of sub-camps that utilized slave labor were run by companies that are now admired like BMW, Thiessen, Bayer, etc. I cannot make sense of the Nazi era—a group of thugs controlling an entire country with no constraints. I don’t believe that "good" Germans had no idea of what was going on. Suppliers, neighbors, drivers and others in Dachau had to know something really horrific was taking place. Madness may be the only explanation.

If you do nothing else during your visit to Munich, visit this memorial. I'd avoid bringing small or immature children, though.

KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau – Concentration Camp Memorial Site

You can take S2 from Munich, getting off at Dachau (about 20 minutes). Then you’ve got to take the 724 or 726 bus to KZ-Gedenkstätte, which is the concentration camp. Ask your hotel or tourist office about day passes. I went with some other travelers on a group ticket that cost only 10.50 euros for the whole day and can cover up to five travelers.

The first thing you’ve got to do here is go to the Information, which will be pretty much straight ahead when you walk in. When we were there, only one guy was working and it took FOREVER to get an audioguide, and THEN you have to get in line again to hand it back (they keep an ID of yours until you return the guide). So just keep this in mind if timing is an issue.

I got an audioguide, which was pretty helpful. It costs 3 euros for adults, 2 euros for children and some other special people. I was told the audioguide is a good alternative to the tour, which can be a little "too intense."

To be honest, I wasn’t even 100% sure I wanted to go to Dachau, for a lot of reasons. Some people think it’s wrong to turn concentration camps into tourist sites, and other people think it’s important as a tool to teach people about what has happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. So, I’m still kind of torn. I have to say, as a German major I have already learned tons about the Holocaust, and I really didn’t learn many new things by going to Dachau. It didn’t seem like a concentration camp at all--just a big empty place with some interesting memorials and a lot of tourists walking around with audioguides, snapping pictures.

The museum inside looks like a good place to begin. We did that last and I didn’t get a lot of time in there. The one thing I really liked were the memorials at the back of the camp. There’s a synagogue, a Catholic chapel, a Protestant chapel, and a little off to the side on the way to the crematorium, a Russian Orthodox chapel. I just found the architecture of the synagogue and the Protestant chapel to be particularly moving. Also, behind these memorials is a convent, which I also thought was touching. The nuns there pray every day for what has happened and for all of the people who come to Dachau to remember the victims of the Holocaust. You can also go to their chapel to pray if you like.