I definitely can say that I learned a lot from going to Dachau, but I can't say that I really feel changed in any way towards what happened in WWII. It's kind of like the way I feel about a lot of things that don't really apply to me such as:
Donald Trump
I don't really care what Donald Trump does and doesn't do because 1) I'm not 18 and can't vote yet, so I had no choice in the matter anyway and 2) I don't pay taxes (at least federal) so why should I care what happens with other people's money. It's kind of funny (but starting to get annoying) when people (usually other students) ask me the dumb, stereotypical question "So, do you like Donald Trump?" but I always have a lack of an answer because, quite honestly, the only thing I think about when I see him on the news is, "How the heck does he get his hair to do that?"
Capital Punishment
I will never commit a crime worthy of the the death sentence, so why should I have to have an opinion about it?
Climate Change
Bring it on I hate the cold.
as with WWII, I understand what happened, I understand that it was horrible, and I understand that millions and millions of human beings were murdered by the Nazis and millions more by the Soviets.
I've read plenty of books and I've watched plenty of movies, so I think that I have a pretty thorough understanding of what happened, but I've never found any of it significantly applicable. I guess this is because WWII ended over 70 years ago and there are so many other terrible, horrible things that are happening in the world today that we can do something about. For example, did you know that over 50 million human babies have been murdered in the US alone since 1973? That's far more than 6 million Jews, and it's still happening! Or, (for those that define life as beginning after birth) 3 million children under the age of five die every year from mal-nutrition. In our world. Today. In 2017. And it goes on and on.
So yes, the disgusting mistreatment of specific minorities in WWII was horrible and the fact that six people were forced to stand in this tiny room
for days on end without sitting because it was too small, is completely unacceptable. But the way I see it is that, yes it happened, but there is so much more we can be doing to put an end to things like this that are still happening in our world today.
But of course, this is all my opinion and I do not expect others to think this way.
The Tour
Regardless of how I feel, the war still happened and it is good to see history first-hand. We started out walking past the famous ARBEIT MACHT FREI sign which means "working makes freedom". I found it interesting that the real sign was stolen in 2014 and the one that is there now is a replica. From there we went into the museum where our tour guide did a lot of talking (in German) and I didn't understand much. Luckily the exhibits were written in German and English side by side so I could read about what she was talking about. From the museum we went to the punishment cells where political and other prisoners were detained. These weren't the standard living quarters for the majority of prisoners; however, they were only for the really "bad" ones.
From the prison cells we went to the Krematorium. It was very powerful to be in the place, in fact the very same room, where many people were murdered out of pure hatred. It was also interesting to see the ovens (are they called ovens?) where the bodies were burned. I can only hope that the bodies that were burned were dead. I can't begin to imagine what it would feel like to burned alive.
After the Krematorium we walked across the KZ (Konzentrationslager, Concentration camp)
to the rebuilt barracks (as the originals were torn down in the sixties) where we could see how small the beds were and how crappy (no pun intended) the bathrooms were.
After that we watched a film about the KZ's and had the opportunity to walk around the museum. While I'm pretty sure that I was the only person to use the whole time to actually see and read the exhibits, I learned more than everyone else.
After that we all boarded the double decker (forgot to snap a photo, someone take away my professional tourist card) and drove the two hours back to Esslingen. Overall, I learned a lot about the camp and got to actually be in one of the places where one of the biggest events in history took place.
Baking Update
Since the last time I made puff pastry (grease bricks, rather), I've felt the need to redeem myself as it didn't turn out so well:
This time; however, I did a much better job and used real butter (my biggest mistake from my last attempt). They turned out herrlich (gorgeous) but they still had this deep-fried-like layer of crisp at the bottom from all the melted butter (if anyone has any tips about how to avoid this, they would be gladly received).
Tomorrow
Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Germany (an inside joke) at 7:30 which would be just after midnight back in the homeland. Joern's dad got us tickets to a Schalke (famous football club) match at 16:00 tomorrow in Essen, which is why we have to leave so dang early. I can't say that I'm crazy about football, but nevertheless I'm still really excited because this will be my first time ever going to a professional sports match (that I can remember) and I love big crowds.
Today is 7.4.2017
Good night,
Nat
Bring it on I hate the cold.
as with WWII, I understand what happened, I understand that it was horrible, and I understand that millions and millions of human beings were murdered by the Nazis and millions more by the Soviets.
I've read plenty of books and I've watched plenty of movies, so I think that I have a pretty thorough understanding of what happened, but I've never found any of it significantly applicable. I guess this is because WWII ended over 70 years ago and there are so many other terrible, horrible things that are happening in the world today that we can do something about. For example, did you know that over 50 million human babies have been murdered in the US alone since 1973? That's far more than 6 million Jews, and it's still happening! Or, (for those that define life as beginning after birth) 3 million children under the age of five die every year from mal-nutrition. In our world. Today. In 2017. And it goes on and on.
So yes, the disgusting mistreatment of specific minorities in WWII was horrible and the fact that six people were forced to stand in this tiny room
for days on end without sitting because it was too small, is completely unacceptable. But the way I see it is that, yes it happened, but there is so much more we can be doing to put an end to things like this that are still happening in our world today.
But of course, this is all my opinion and I do not expect others to think this way.
The Tour
Regardless of how I feel, the war still happened and it is good to see history first-hand. We started out walking past the famous ARBEIT MACHT FREI sign which means "working makes freedom". I found it interesting that the real sign was stolen in 2014 and the one that is there now is a replica. From there we went into the museum where our tour guide did a lot of talking (in German) and I didn't understand much. Luckily the exhibits were written in German and English side by side so I could read about what she was talking about. From the museum we went to the punishment cells where political and other prisoners were detained. These weren't the standard living quarters for the majority of prisoners; however, they were only for the really "bad" ones.
From the prison cells we went to the Krematorium. It was very powerful to be in the place, in fact the very same room, where many people were murdered out of pure hatred. It was also interesting to see the ovens (are they called ovens?) where the bodies were burned. I can only hope that the bodies that were burned were dead. I can't begin to imagine what it would feel like to burned alive.
After the Krematorium we walked across the KZ (Konzentrationslager, Concentration camp)
to the rebuilt barracks (as the originals were torn down in the sixties) where we could see how small the beds were and how crappy (no pun intended) the bathrooms were.
 |
| can't imagine |
After that we all boarded the double decker (forgot to snap a photo, someone take away my professional tourist card) and drove the two hours back to Esslingen. Overall, I learned a lot about the camp and got to actually be in one of the places where one of the biggest events in history took place.
Baking Update
Since the last time I made puff pastry (grease bricks, rather), I've felt the need to redeem myself as it didn't turn out so well:
 |
| greasy poop bricks at best |
 |
| gonna open a bakery |
Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Germany (an inside joke) at 7:30 which would be just after midnight back in the homeland. Joern's dad got us tickets to a Schalke (famous football club) match at 16:00 tomorrow in Essen, which is why we have to leave so dang early. I can't say that I'm crazy about football, but nevertheless I'm still really excited because this will be my first time ever going to a professional sports match (that I can remember) and I love big crowds.
Today is 7.4.2017
Good night,
Nat
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