Day 18: Dachau and Cologne

Today, we finally made it to Dachau. And then it was Dachau and I couldn't deal with it. I've taken classes about the Holocaust, I've read books and seen museums in different countries. I've even been to Yad Vashem. Something about being in an actual camp, the very first camp I've been to, was overwhelmingly sad.

I thought about the first museum here in Gemany I visited that mentioned the Holocaust and how surprised I was, how I hadn't even connected this amazing country with all the things I like and admire with that unspeakably horrible chapter of history. And there it was, just innocently staring at me from a glass case. A yellow star that marked someone "other." Not only other but sub-human, dirty, worthless as a consequence of genetic background. 

Honestly, there is no way to explain how I felt walking the camp, seeing the bunks, smelling the lingering dirty human odor that seeped into the walls of every building. There were tourists everywhere, which I'm normally annoyed by. In this case, I was perversely happy because of how hard it was to walk around and read the placards. That means people are learning and taking time to preserve history in some small way. Every selfie I saw spread a specific and important message: this place is significant. The struggle and life lost here will not be forgotten. The spirit of this place and what it means to those who were lost and those who survived will be carried by at least one more generation.

A grave marking the ashes of the unknown prisoner

The door to the Jewish commemorative monument

 I was struck by how easy it was to get to the camp from the main train station. They no longer have a line that runs directly from the station to the camp for obvious reasons but the bus took us there in ten minutes. I haven't heard so much English spoken in quite some time. It was different to have to sensor myself from saying things I wouldn't want others to overhear or immediately understand. But the camp is right in the city and functioned the same way when it was active as a concentration camp. There were letters in parts of the museum about how excited everyone in the city was for the local economy because a camp would definitely revitalize it. That made me a bit sick.

We walked everything for about three hours and finally made it to the end, where there are monuments from the Catholic church, a Jewish monument, and a Protestant one that is specifically dedicated to the principle of reconciliation. I was most interested in the Jewish monument so that's where most of my pictures were taken. Honestly, it didn't feel right to take photos of most of what I saw. Disrespectful, some how. There was also an Orthodox church past the main three that was built by survivors in memory of the Russian political prisoners interred at Dachau.

This statue stands right outside the crematorium, by the graveyard

 After Dachau, we went to the train station to get on the next train to Cologne. The train took about five or six hours and was announced by the most enthusiastic German man I've ever heard. He practically sang the upcoming stops. Eventually, we made it to Cologne and after a minor problem with finding the right direction for the tram, we met up with our host, Felix. He and his wife Midori are very cool youngish intellectuals. He's German and she's Mexican and they met through couch surfing, which is totally awesome. They have a lot of books and made us dinner and talked with us for a little before giving us the wifi code and going to bed.

Only two more days to go. Tomorrow, we're going to walk down to the Rhine, find an English book store so I can have something to read on the plane and also the train ride back to Amsterdam, and explore before coming back at around seven to cook with our hosts. Good night, faithful reader! Until tomorrow!

Maria