Day 6 – Dachau Concentration Camp

Today was the heaviest day of the trip. Walking through concentration camp and seeing locations I had only seen before in films suddenly made the story of the Holocaust so much more real in my mind. As I passed through the barracks, I was horrified to see how conditions degraded throughout the use of the camp. It was so sad to see that the Nazis valued life so little and crammed so many people together. The hardest part of the day was walking through the gas chamber and seeing the ovens that they used to mass murder and cremate their victims. I was reminded of a scene from “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” where the victims were mislead to believe they were showering and instead were murdered with poison, and I felt so sorry for the victims. It’s impossible to fully understand and comprehend the atrocities accomplished, but today’s visit expanded my mind.