Dave the Nomad

Munich, unlike other cities, has taken a very different approach to remembering the darker side of its past as a city of the Third Reich. There are monuments dotted around in remembrance of the Jewish community, but they are subtle, untranslated, and sometimes cryptic in meaning. They are a bit hard to find, but if you look for them you can find them. As for the city; take a free tour. I was so impressed with the free 3 hour tour, that I decided to take the city-provided Dachau tour the next day.

Dachau was the first concentration camp to be opened by the Nazis, and the only one to remain open the entire 12 years. My introduction to this camp involved walking through the same gate that every person incarcerated there passed through. On it were the infamous words: “Work will make you free;” the first of many lies made by the regime. This is not a place by which one rushes and snaps a picture; the atmosphere is a heavy blanket of remembrance and humility I have never experienced before. As I walked along the gravel path, with only the sounds of feet scuffling on gravel and a slight breeze rustling the poplar trees lining the path, I found myself struggling to fathom what had happened here.

Ignorance was upheld at all costs to make sure inmates never knew what was happening. From entering through the gate to when they took a walk along the stream (often said to be gray from the ashes) and through the woods to the “shower house”. Area residents were shot on sight if found anywhere near the camp, and as such never knew what was happening. Many inmates silently waited, hoping just to live the next ten minutes. As I looked through the museum, barracks, and crematorium I find myself realizing although I am here, although I have seen where, and walked on the same piece of earth, I will never know what they lived through. I do know it is my duty as a member of humanity to know that this happened; to resist the ignorance like that imposed by the Nazis on citizens even just miles away.

Seeing Dachau, I find it disheartening and sad to realize as much as we look backward at memorials to days of liberation over a horrid regime and nostalgic quotes by Winston Churchhill which say, “We must never forget.” we struggle to find a small amount of time to look forward to what is happening around us and remember what it is we are being asked not to forget. Everyday life can sometimes be so compulsive and engulfing we neglect our obligation as citizens, and more basely humans; to challenge questionable acts by few, and to use the speech we are allowed.

There is a place in Munich between two lions in which Hitler especially loved to give his rousing speeches to the crowds below. One with mouth open, one with mouth closed, and if Hitler had known their significance he would have had them torn down. The lion pointing towards the government offices has his mouth open, and the one with it closed towards the church. They were put there as a symbol to the Bavarians that you should never speak out against your God, and always be able to speak out against your government. Only blocks away from the lions was the start of a movement started by several University students who found out what was happening at Dachau and printed flyers and left them in public places for people to read and understand. These students were eventually caught and executed, but their fight was not lost. One flyer made it to England, and it was reproduced over and over and dropped all over Germany. This group called themselves the white rose.

“We are the white rose, we are your guilty conscience, we will not be silenced.”