Today the group visited the concentration camp memorial site in Dachau, Germany. It was a very interesting experience, filled with many mixed emotions. We are starting to figure our way around the public transportation system by now, which is something I have never really used growing up in a suburb town. As we arrived, it was very silent, and I could tell all of the visitors were taking it all in just like I was, too. The camp was a lot larger than I had expected, with a huge open area and a couple of buildings in the area. Of course growing up I had always heard about the Holocaust and horror stories about the concentration camps, but it is an entirely different feeling when you are standing in the same place all of this occurred many years beforehand.
I’m really glad I visited this museum although it made me very sad. I think it’ s good to understand the history so it doesn’t get repeated in the future. One thing I thought was very interesting was that all of the schools in the Dachau area visit the museum as a class trip in order to ensure the students that this was a horrible thing to happen and it must never happen again. Although it was very upsetting, I’m glad that the class went to visit the museum to help us understand German history a little bit better, which is one thing I had hoped to learn on this Maymester trip.
