Walking into History

The small suburb of
Wolfrathausen was our
first stop and
the home of our
residence for the
next few days.

The town was adorable.
the hotel staff
were extremely nice
the breakfast at the hotel
was a divine mixture
of meat, cheese, rolls,
hot tea, eggs, coffee,
and different assortments
of jam and jellies.

Our room was nearly bigger
than our apartment in italy.
It had a loft,
which was pretty snazzy.
And they had a tiny
tv, that we got
to watch german shows
and soccer on.
It was a good place
to go back to after
such a packed weekend.

So, we arrived early morning
in the center of Munich.
It was chilly.
The wind didn't help any
and the only thing i
kept thinking was
that i was glad i didn't
sign up for the bike
tour around Munich:
since it was freezy,
it was lightly raining,
and we didn't sleep much
on that stupid bus.

So, instead, me and
my roommates headed out
to Dachau for the day.
it didn't take much to work
the German transportation system
and before we knew it we
arrived at the Third Reich's
first concentration camp.

It was eerie.
it was gray.
everywhere.
the ground, the sky, the buildings.
looking around
you couldn't help
thinking of the people
who were forced into labor
and died where you looked,
or even where you stood.

the two places that were the hardest
were the "bunker"
and the crematory

the bunker was the prison block.
complete with torture rooms,
medical experiments,
standing cells,
and solitary confinement.
all of which you could walk into,
besides the standing cells.
they were taken down
for some reason by the american
soldiers who liberated the camp.

as some might think,
not all concentration camps were
extermination camps like Auschwitz
Dachau was there for labor
in the armory industry.
but plenty died in their crematory
and fake showers that were
really the gas chambers.
and in the gardens around it,
there were the many graves
of the ashes found.


while the camp can simply
be described as haunting,
gray, and depressing,
i would suggest those of you
fortunate to make it to Munich
to stop by Dachau.

It was really an amazing experience
to be able to walk into a place
you've read about in a history book.
even one so difficult to face
as a concentration camp.