Dachau and Oktoberfest

Today, we had two extremes in one day. Dachau Concentration Camp is a sobering reminder of the darkest side of human nature, while Oktoberfest is very light and a celebration of life. Some people celebrate it more than others though. It was a very interesting day.
I knew quite a bit about WWII and the Holocaust through school, but seeing the evidence of it is eye opening. Right away, I was stunned by the beauty of the area. It is hard to believe that the area was the scene of so much terror and violence. Seeing the buildings where the Jews were housed and reading about the atrocities that were committed was awful. I'm almost hesitant to post photos of the camp, but I will post some. I will not be posting pictures of the crematory or the death chamber. I will post them on Facebook at some point so all of my Facebook friends that read this have fair warning.

The memorials for all of the victims at Dachau were very moving. They are all over. There are mass graves because many victims were cremated. There are Jewish and Christian graves, as not all the victims were Jewish (although a majority were). The atrocities committed by the Nazis will never be forgotten and places like this are important to remind us why they shouldn't be. American soldiers liberating the camp were said to have gone mad at the sight of the bodies and that isn't surprising. Dachau was the first concentration camp and wasn't originally a death camp, but as the war went on and overcrowding became an issue it transformed.

One last thought about Dachau. The gates say in German "Work will set you free". Not many people who walked through those gates were ever free again. It was an emotional experience coming here, but I am so glad that I did.

After leaving Dachau, we headed to Munich for Oktoberfest. It was a lot of fun. Oktoberfest is basically a huge fair with beer gardens. I didn't expect the fair atmosphere about it. It was a fun experience, even though I didn't have any beer tonight. Tomorrow, I definitely will.

Tomorrow, we will be exploring Munich and then returning to Oktoberfest. We have a bike tour that was one of the extra things we paid for so we shall see how that goes. It should be fun.