Back to the Begining
Munich, first day
It must have been 10pm when I landed in Munich. The airport was huge and deserted, so it was a bit creepy making my way to the train station. As tired as I was, it was a sobering experience sitting on that train with only my thoughts to keep me company. It’s not often I get to completely disconnect and this was a taste of the weeks ahead. The subway took me to Marienplatz, the center of Munich, containing the New City Hall building. Being late it was deserted as well, except for a group of people standing in a circle immediately outside the exit of the metro. I walked out exhausted and bewildered and to great relief heard English coming from that group. Not having the energy to figure out how to get to the apartment, I interjected myself into their conversation asking for directions. After a couple of awkward seconds where it was determined I was not a peddler nor a mugger, a young fellow stepped off and volunteered to direct me since he lived close by. The city center of Munich seems to lack any kind of logical structure with streets going every which way, giving it charm, but making it nearly impossible to orient yourself. With his help we found the apartment fairly swiftly, and I was soon showered and in bed in my new giant room.
Needless to say I slept in that morning, and after some lazy false starts, I finally was ready to explore. It was decided that before I start frolicking around Germany, eating pretzels and strudel and drinking beer, I should pay my respects to history and the people who did not have such an easy time in this country. My first stop was the Jewish museum. It was a freestanding modern building a couple of “blocks” away from the apartment. The day was dreary so it set the mood perfectly. The museum was comprised of two floors. A permanent exhibit and a temporary. Truthfully, both were forgettable, except for this comic strip collection at the very end. It sent a clear and powerful message and I think it’s worth reading through. I was done with the museum in no time, so I decided to take this all the way and visit the Dachau concentration camp near the city. It was one of the earliest camps built in Germany and the only one active from it’s beginning throughout the whole war. It started off housing political prisoners, but then expanded to Jews, gays, foreigners, and other undesirables. The camp is a short train/bus ride away, standing in the middle of a manicured Munich suburb.
There is a walkway leading up to the main entrance to the camp which contains a gatehouse where the officers offices were. The museum is housed in the former maintenance building immediately inside the gate, and contains an exhaustive history of Germany through WWII, with in depth narratives of political landscapes leading up and through the war. It was a very interesting experience, and would require much more time than I had to truly understand everything it had to offer.
The prisoner barracks have been destroyed, but a couple have been rebuilt for the exhibit. They are pretty much what you expect. Barebone, efficient living spaces. There was also the crematorium where bodies of prisoners who died of overwork, starvation or execution were burned. All this is surrounded by a moat, and a fence with guard towers. Several monuments were built inside the grounds after liberation. A couple are chapels and a site dedicated to Jews.
What can I say about the camp… The day was a somber way to start a vacation but it was necessary. It was enlightening, and added a real life aspect to something you hear about constantly. Little of the physical remains truly hinted of what happened here, and it was not a death camp like Auschwitz so the level of emotion was tempered. Nevertheless they did an excellent job in preserving the memory and educating visitors as to the true nature of the war. With the simple action of passing through the arch of the main gate on my way out of the camp I was fulfilling the unrealised dream of so many souls. This thought really recalibrated my view on life.
Freedom seems so simple when you have it.
