EXPLORING THE WORLD: FROM DACHAU TO MUNICH, THE RESIDENCE MUSEUM AND ENGLISH GARDENS

Jams Hotel

Stubenvollstrasse 2

https://www.jams-hotel.com

Munich, Germany

Friday, June 28, 2024

83F, sunny

International Monument

Apologies to readers--it is getting more difficult to keep up. We returned to the hotel about 8:30 p.m. to pack for tomorrow --- 22,400 steps today, which is about 11 miles. I think I am at about my max and we are lucky we have kept up this far. TK: 17,552

This was a very significant day because we went to Dachau, one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, social democrats, and other dissidents.

Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel (Catholic Memorial)

Soon, political prisoners, Poles, Romani, Jews, homosexuals, the homeless, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholic priests, and Communists were sent there. Later even Greeks, Hungarians, Dutch, French, and more were transferred to Dachau.

Many prisoners tried to start a resistance, but were heavily punished and condemned to death.

By 1941 medical experiements were performed on the sick and those unfit to work, biochemicals, sulfamide, great altitudes and hypothermia tested, typhoid treatments.

By the end stage of the war, hygiene and food rationing were catastrophic, and there was much typhus.

Jewish Memorial

The parabola-shaped structure features a ramp that

leads downward, reminding visitors of the extermination

of European Jews. At its lowest point, light shines into the memorial

through an opening. A menorah –

a seven-branched candelabrum – made of marble from

Peki’in is positioned on the top of the structure.

The crematoriums were shut down because of a coal shortage--one can imagine or do more research as to what was done to prisoners then.

A plaque noted that the 42nd U.S. Army Division and a few others liberated the camp, but thousands of liberated prisoners died because it was not known how to care for those who were starving--lots of food was not the answer.

The Protestant Church of Reconciliation

The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, which stands on the site of the original camp, opened to the public in 1965. Friend Judy and I visited Dachau in 1967. The visit had a great impact on me then and it did now. There was much more information today, but the memorials are still there, with a message that onen must never forget.

It is free to enter and thousands of people visit Dachau each year to learn about what happened there and remember those who were imprisoned and died during the Holocaust.

Barracks--104 men, 2 toilets

A book reports of the known names of those who died at Dachau. There were 19 surnames like ours. There were none with the surname of my sons. I am sure research continues.

After our contemplative visit to Dachau, we returned to Munich and did some more sightseeing.