So, Dachau...

So on my last full day in Munich, I took the tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. To say it was shocking would not be proper. We know how cruel humanity can be, but we're all pretty good at ignoring it. Sometimes though, you have to confront the darkness. That's what was so remarkable about Dachau. It was a complete confrontation of evil. If you ever get a chance to go to a place like this, even if as you read this you're saying "I could never do that", go. It can make you a stronger human being.

This was on the entrance. It means "Work Will Set You Free", more or less. I don't think it's on every concentration camp entrance, but I know it's at Dachau and Auschwitz (which I now have decided I have to go to before I leave Europe). It, like many things at a place like this, was a cruel joke.

I suppose I should explain what Dachau was. It was an actual concentration camp (not a death camp), one of the first (if not the first), opened in 1933. It originally housed political prisoners (aka COMMUNISTS) while Hitler was taking power. After the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht), it started to have Jews. It eventually had Slavs, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other prisoners. People were sent there to work, but if they were deemed unfit to work, they were sent to death camps. Still, at Dachau, between 25,000 to 35,000 people are believed to have died. Over 200,000 were imprisoned there total. It's hard to determine the deaths, because in the last few years of the war, they no longer recorded Jewish or Slavic deaths in camps.

The first part of the tour was more of a museum. This is an example of the propaganda from that era. While a lot of people supported the Nazis, it's hard to remember that they were living in fear and desperation. Think of how many rights people give up when security is considered to be at stake. Things like Kristallnacht and the anti-Communist propaganda were done to terrify people into believing that there were enemies everywhere, and if we don't stop them they'll stop us. I wish I could say things like this don't happen anymore, especially in the western world. Unfortunately, humanity doesn't learn its lessons very quickly.

In the museum, they showed us a few methods of punishment in the camp. The SS were the main guards, and if you stood out in any way as a prisoner, you could be punished. Unfortunately, some of us just stand out. Even after losing their names (assigned a number) and given no identity (uniforms that may or may not fit), they were punished.

One form of punishment involved the prisoners whiping each other here, under monitor, until the prisoner being whipped could count his lashing to 25 in German, even though there were a lot of prisoners who didn't speak German here. It was designed to prevent fraternization.

Another punishment was called a "tree", where the prisoners would hang, chained to a beam on the ceiling. Originally, they would actually hang them from a tree, but when it was discovered that it gave them something to lean on, they moved it inside. After thirty minutes, your shoulders would never be the same. You had no support. After four hours, you'd be dead, but it was agony as all the bones broke. While this sounds like a form of torture, I as an American unfortunately am not comfortable calling it that, as we have been using it as an approved "advanced interrogation technique" in the War on Terror. Hmm, maybe we did learn something from World War II after all.

After that part of the museum, we went into the bunker, which was actually the most horrifying part of the tour to me. I knew what to expect from other parts, but this was where they sent people to endure the worst without killing them. The odd part is that this is also where the "special" prisoners were, the priests and others who were a bit more powerful than the average Communist, Slav, or Jew. In other words, Catholics. Martin Neimoller famously composed this poem:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

He was at Dachau.

The bunker is where they would lock people in complete darkness, feeding them every four days with small pieces of bread. At one point, the SS was not allowed to kill people, so they would try to force suicide, which usually works, except for one escape attempt. They also forced people to stand for any amount of time (also considered an advanced interrogation technique by the Bush administration).

After that lovely place we checked out the living conditions. The camp had three phases, and none of them were very pleasant. However, I must say: the beds are a lot like summer camp. The difference is that the beds here were usually quite overcrowded and spread a lot of disease.

After this, we headed to the scary places. This is a picture of the shooting area where they would kill people by firing squad. Unfortunately, the Nazis couldn't kill people fast enough. This was the first crematorium, which wasn't so much horrifying as it was just weird:

But yes, after that quaint little barn we went to one of the most terrifying symbols of the concentration camp system.

I don't think there are words to describe the emotions you get when you walk through a gas chamber. This was something developed to annihilate an entire race of people, because shooting them was too messy and took too much time. Officially, this building had a death count of 0 people. However, I should reiterate that by the time this thing was built, they had pretty much quit recording Jewish and Slavic deaths.

It had an eerie assembly line fashion to it. First, there was the entrance, where they would lead people in and have them take off their clothes for a "shower."

The doors only had handles on one side. When they went into this room, they were all gassed to death. All the vents were closed, and prisoners had to clean out the room and make it look like a normal shower. This is where I quit feeling horrible the way I had before, because at this point there's no humanity in anything anymore.

Look at the lack of a doorknob for the inside. Do you think anyone could open that thing if they tried?

This is the factory-esque crematorium. It's hard to really imagine it being put to use on any regular basis.

Outside of that death factory, this statue stands. He's not of any race or creed, he's just an anonymous prisoner. The words there translate to something along the lines of "To honor the dead, to warn the living." Places like this are preserved as a reminder of human failure. Whether anyone wants to think about it or not, we all possess the same genetic structure as the kinds of people who did these horrifying things. We also possess the same genetic structure as the kinds of people who suffered these horrid things. But we need to be beyond them both.

This is the Jewish Memorial. It's what made the place feel kind of hopeful. As you go down there, you realize that it's almost complete darkness. However, there's still a bit of light in there. In spite of the fact that the Nazis tried to annihilate an entire ethnicity and religion, they failed. And the Nazis are gone.

I have to give the Germans credit for coming to terms with their horrific past. We all know that it was horrible, but every nation does horrible things. We all know that the US has had several concentration camps. We had "relocation camps" for Japanese Americans during World War II. I know somebody's going to tell me that they weren't as bad as the ones that the Nazis had, but where's the evidence? I'm not saying they were as bad, but isn't taking someone against their will into a forced imprisonment without a trial bad enough? Has anyone ever toured a camp set up by our government? Do you think anyone will tour Guantanomo?

You have to make peace with your darkness before being able to move beyond it. It's painful to think about, but it's something that you have to do.

At Dachau, there's a memorial that says "Never Again" in five different languages. But atrocities are still being committed around the world. Why do we feel that it needs to be that way?

What a long strange trip it's been...

Wow, I can't believe I haven't updated this in the last few weeks, but I've been literally everywhere. On my last day in Athens, I headed over to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. It's about an hour from Athens, but the ride over there is absolutely beautiful. Once you get to the cliff, it's just a ruin of a temple.

It's a very beautiful view of the sea, and legend has it that it's where the Aegean Sea was named. The temple is decently enough preserved, considering how old it is. There are etchings all over it where people have written their names. Lord Byron signed his name here, but it's in a spot that you can't see without going in. Wanting to be respectful of the boundaries (at this point at least), I didn't sneak into it.

After Athens, I took my last flight of the trip to Rome. I hate flying, but I ended up enjoying this flight because I got into a conversation with a few people from California that were all together on a trip to study the beginnings of Christianity. They had been in Turkey and Greece and were finishing things off in Rome before returning to the US. They were incredibly nice. One of them was named Mary Grace.

Once I arrived in Rome, I checked into my hostel and ended up heading to the Colliseum. I met a great couple from San Francisco, and together we wandered around the ancient structure. The fact that it was January 20 was not lost on us. The Colliseum was pretty cool, and we tried to get into the Roman Forum, but could not find the entrance until it was closed. From there, we went to the Fountain of Trevi, which is easily the most beautiful thing in Rome.

Afterwards, I went to the Pantheon, the 2000 year old structure that was converted to a church. It's where the artist Raphael is buried, and it's quite spectacular.

It's hard to believe that I saw the Acropolis two days before seeing all of this stuff, but after so long you get used to being overwhelmed on a daily basis. It's very strange. On my walk back to the hostel, I ended up at the Colliseum again, which looks better at night.

See what I mean?

That night, I made friends with a group from my hostel that had been living in Dublin. They were from everywhere (Spain, Brazil, Lithuania), and we went out with a friend they had from Italy. The next day, we all went to the Vatican together.

I enjoyed the Vatican Museums, especially the Egyptian Museum. I knew they had a huge collection, but it's beyond explaining. They really do have everything. Of course, considering that it's the only institution to actually survive through as much as it has, they would have to have everything.

Apologies for the blurriness.

Oh, and yes, the Sistine Chapel is one that you have to see to believe. But it hurts to look up that much.

Afterwards, I went into St. Peter's Basilica. It's gigantic and spectacular of course, and it's the most beautiful church I've ever seen. Prior to this, I preferred the Tyn Church in Prague and Notre Dame in Paris. It's hard to believe how much effort is put into these things. And the St. Peter's is the center of Catholicism. It's beyond explanation. I'm not very religious at all, but it's remarkable to see this kind of thing. I also went into the museum underneath the Basilica, which has a frustrating audio guide that goes on for forever, but you see some really valuable stuff. Also, it had John Paul II's robes. But yeah, the Vatican was cool.

And to top if off, Michaelangelo's La Pieta is right by the door.

I took a long walk back to Termini from the Vatican, taking a look at the Roman Forum before going back to my room and reading.

The next day I went to Florence, which is called Firenze in Italian. I wish I had known that before the day I went there. I made friends with a guy named Alan from Chile on the train. The first place we went to was Accademia, where the statue of David is. Here's another bad picture that I took against the rules.

The hostel we went to was amazing, providing dinner and breakfast and free walking tours of the city. We did a walking tour, seeing one of the palaces in town and learning about some of the history of Florence.

After that, Alan and I went around with a guy from Turkey named Aykut, and two Chilean girls named Valentina and Carolina. We went to the Piazza of Michaelangelo and found a monastery turned into a church.

We headed down to the Uffizi Museum, where I may have gotten arted out.

Florence was cool because of the people I met there and the hostel I stayed in. The history of the city's quite amazing, but it seemed a bit stuck in the past. However, the Duomo still looks amazing.

The next day, I headed to Venice. I met a Canadian on the train who was incredibly cool. I was on my own again, at least for a little while. I had no idea what to expect from Venice, other than canals. After going to Amsterdam and Copenhagen, I thought I had an idea of what to expect. I was completely wrong.

Venice, to me at least, is the most beautiful city in Europe. The intricate labyrinth of the city is chaotic but perfect. You never know where you're going, and I got lost immediately. The cool thing about Europe is that in a lot of cities, it's okay to get lost. Everywhere, even with a little bit of graffiti, is gorgeous. It's hard to describe.

There's not much to do there that you can't do anywhere else, unfortunately, and things cost a bit more. The hostel didn't provide much, although it really was a guest house. There was a Canadian in my room, and she had a similar sense of humor. We talked about how ugly Venice is.

At 12:00 on Sunday, I met up with Aykut, Carolina, Valentina, and Alan. All of us (except Alan) went on a gondola ride (very expensive, we ended up paying 15 euro each for 30 minutes, but when the hell else am I going to do that?).

I hate the look I have on my face in this picture.

We wandered, ate, and wandered some more. Alan ended up staying in the same room at my hostel, but the others left. That evening, I hung out with Heather (the same Canadian girl) and two other Canadians, who had just come from Munich.

On Monday, I went to Salzburg, which took forever by train. I had to switch near the border, and I couldn't see anything outside by the time we got in Austria. I had a great conversation on my first train with a woman from Italy named Stephanie.

When I arrived in Salzburg, I got online briefly and went to bed. Because there was only one time a day that I could get from Venice to Salzburg, I essentially only had one day there. The hostel seemed nice though. I wondered how much I'd get done.

The first place I went to in the morning (this was Tuesday, January 27) was Mozart's birthplace. I had been planning to go to Salzburg for over a month at this time, and I had picked the date arbitrarily, not realizing that I was there on MOZART'S BIRTHDAY. So I was in the room where the musical genius was born on the day he was born. They've turned it into kind of an art exhibit, which was strange but really kind of poetic at times.

I found lunch afterwards. This is where the return of my beloved sachar torte is.

So delicious.

Afterwards I went to the place where Mozart lived, and saw a lot of his stuff. It was really cool, and they had a temporary exhibit on Haydn and Mozart's relationship. It had to close early, because of the concerts they were having that day. It was the Mozart week festival, which is apparently quite a big deal. They love their native son, even if he wasn't crazy about the place. I liked it.

I then journeyed to the fortress. They had some kind of inclined shuttle thing that you could take up the mountain, but I'm not sure if it was even running. I wanted to walk anyways, so I took the hike uphill. Twasn't easy, and that's when it started to snow. A lot.

The fortress was beautiful, and the museums they had in there were just plain cool (not literally, it was a comfortable refuge from the cold). They had lots of armor, and the place had been there for centuries so they had relics from medieval times.

(cue Lord of the Rings music)

I went to two of the three main museums there. I started to go into the Marionette Museum, but I think I was alone (you can never tell, those things are weird) and then I got scared (no TERRIFIED) of all the freaky puppets and I ran out of there almost as fast as I ran through Kanawha State Forest with Kelsey one time.

The last part of the fortress I went to was sort of a history of the place, which had an escort and an audio guide. It ended with an observation level, which the audio guide informed me had a "magnificent view" of Salzburg.

Yeah, it's terrific.

On the way down, I got a magnificent view of Salzburg. It's a very pretty town.

It does really look good in the snow.

Because the city's insanely obssessed with Mozart, I even ran into this guy:

It's a replica of a statue in Prague outside of the Estates Theatre commemorating Don Giovanni. I guess they felt they needed to replicate it in Salzburg too.

But yeah, after that I talked to my father a bit and when I mentioned that they had a concert that night he told me I absolutely HAD to go. It was Mozart's birthday, in Mozart's town, a festival to honor him, when else would I do that? So I went to the Mozarteum, which is very golden.

I'm sure you're tired of seeing that smile.

The concert was quite beautiful, with a guest clarinet player from Sweden. They played two modern pieces, along with one piece by Mozart and another by Haydn. All of it was good, although the highlight was probably the Haydn ending.

The Mozarteum

After Salzburg, I hopped on the train and went to Munich. My hostel there was cool, and the city was pretty neat itself. I'd go back to Munich in a heartbeat. I got to see Riccardo, another student from last semester who's now working there.

I won't go into too much detail about all that I did in Munich, because that's another entry for this. I did a walking tour, which told me a lot about the history of the place.

I met more people there than I've met in most other places. I hung out with an American (who I actually met in Florence), several Canadians, several Australians, and two Irish guys who do fantastic Michael Caine impressions. The hostel had a fantastic bar and a great staff. I really enjoyed the place.

Of course, the highlight of Munich (for most people) is the fantastic beer. I'll leave you with that. I'm back in the Czech Republic, regrouping before classes start.

When I write my next blog, it will be about a place I went to in Munich called Dachau.