Well I definitely didn't have the best sleep last night. My cold hit its peak, and half my night was spent in chills and blowing my nose. Gross!

But you just have to suck it up!

We got ready and checked out of Jaeger's... The man at the reception was not very nice. I think Meredith read a review about him on Hostelworld saying that he was mean... Some people just need to brighten up and smile.

After we checked out of the Jaeger's Hostel we rolled our luggage one building over to Wombats :) Which is our new hostel that we will be staying at until Saturday.
We then headed to Marienplatz, to meet up with the NewEurope tour group to do a tour of Dachau.

On our way there we stopped at McDonalds, and I got an extra large dose of vitamin C... aka orange juice :) It really hit the spot. I also stopped at a bakery and picked up a pastry. All of the pastries look like cinnamon rolls, but don't taste anything like them. So I didn't even eat half of it.

We were about 30 minutes early to sight where the tour departs, so we just sat in the square and people watched :)

Finally the tour left. It was 18 euros for students... which is pretty expensive. But visiting a concentration camp was one of the main things I wanted to do on this trip, and I really wanted to get the most out of it.

There were probably about 20 people in our group, and we were lead by Kai. That is the great thing about the NewEurope tours is that they are usually lead by these alternative young people that are really passionate about what they are teaching and have a great sense of humor. We had to take a subway and then a bus... but then we were at Dachau.

Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp, and it was the only concentration camp that was in use for the full 13 years. It was also the center for SS troops training. It was an all male concentration camp, however in the 1940s and towards the end of World War II, they opened a brothel in the concentration camps. The women that were shipped to be in these brothels died within a few months from the diseases. Just absolutely disgusting.

Walking on to the memorial grounds of Dachau you have to pass through a gate that on the top reads in German "work will set you free" ... which is a complete lie but that was just one of the few ways that German soldiers manipulated the prisoners. In 1945 it became law that the gate could never be closed again, which I thought was very powerful.

After walking through the gate you walk to a big courtyard where the role calls were held. Twice a day the prisoners would have to stand in role call regardless of health or weather. If the numbers were off, everyone would be punished and were forced to stay in role call. Kai told us that the longest roll call lasted 18 hours. If people died through the night, it was the responsibility of the other prisoners to carry out the bodies so the numbers matched.

We then went through the museum. Where we learned how the Nazi party was able to draw support because people were desperate for a government with action and also through propaganda.

We then went to the next room. From this point on the tour you walk the same path that new prisoners coming to the camp would walk. The first was where they stripped naked and gave up all their personal possessions. There were some of these possessions on display which included pictures of family, birth certificates and passports. From there their heads were completely shaved. However the razors were never sharpened, so they had to dunk their heads into disinfectant solution and then were forced into the showers, which only had cold water. Which during the winter is straight from the glaciers and near unbearable. From there they had to grab a uniform from a pile. However they did not have time to pick a correct size. So often they were too large or too small. This was another way that the Nazi soldiers feel inferior. It was said to strip away three things entering a concentration camp: your possessions, your freedom and your dignity.

They were also only received one uniform ever. If they lost a shoe, they would never receive a replacement even during winter. The only time they could get another shoe is if they stole it off a dead body.

We also learned about the different patches that were put on the uniforms to signify why they were in the concentration camps. These groups included criminals, homosexuals, jehovah witnesses, immigrants, jews, and then a social. The a social group was a black triangle and pretty much was a group that anyone could fall under ... therefore the SS troops could imprison anyone they wished.

Another interesting thing was the way that they decide if someone was a homosexual. So the Nazi Army made a checklist. Which included if they were in the theater, or spent too much time in the theater, or even new someone in the theater, and also if they were not married by 35. And this is completely ridiculous because Hitler himself was a HUGE fan of the theater...

We then went and saw the barracks. Many of the barracks were destroyed, however one was built as a model. Inside there are three different rooms that focus of a different year. As you walk through the different rooms you see how the beds change, and how the living conditions plummeted. There was also a sign that said the total number of prisoners living in each barrack (which there were 30)... Each of the barracks were built to house 250 prisoners, however they had a minimum of 900 in each, and some had up to 2,000! They were literally sleeping on top of each other, many in which would die throughout the night, and then to get out you would have to move around the bodies. It was absolutely disgusting the way they were treated.

From the memorial we went to the Crematory... which is exactly what it sounds like... the place where the bodies were cremated. We saw the first crematory, which was small ... However in the early 40s every concentration camp was ordered to have a crematory and a gas chamber. So there was a new building built one that also had a gas chamber. Kai told us that there is no official documentation that Dachau's gas chamber was used, however Dachau survivors testified that they were used for individual and small group killings, but no mass murders.

I walked through the gas station and the crematory and was just overwhelmed. The fact that humanity can do that to itself just makes me sick.

My favorite part of the memorial was a statue, and in the bottom read in German "Mourn the dead to warn the living" ... The statue was of a prisoner doing everything that they were not allowed to at the concentration camps including putting your hands in your pocket. The statue was to represent the undocumented prisoners of Dachau, who lived and died there however were never made note of.

I cannot say that it was a good tour. But it was a very educating and eye opening tour. It really makes you reflect on history and humanity. It is devastating that genocides and concentration camps still exist today, however hopefully through educating more people of the inhumanity of them there will be a change.

After the tour we were back at the main train station. We grabbed something small to eat and then headed to the hostel hoping to catch the USA FIFA game. However, everyone was more interested in watching England.. and we were not going to fight it.

Instead we decided to Birkenstock shop :) They are really inexpensive here! I got a pair and so did Meredith. And tomorrow I am going back to pick up some for my family...

We are now just working on our laundry. We haven't done any since Florence! Gross! And then tomorrow we are headed to Neuschwanstein Castle :) Which is what the Cinderella castle is modeled after... So that should be exciting.

So far we have no roommates! A 6 person dorm and bathroom to just Meredith and I :D But that could always change :(
-brooke.