As i lie in bed nursing the second bout of serious illness I have experienced during the semester I find myself in a dilemma. Having just come off one of the busiest academic weeks I can remember, in which I had 3 presentations, a group project, 2 papers and a week of finals still left to go, I am exhausted. I don't want to get out of bed, my body aches, I have the chills, and I still have a 10 page paper on Belgium history due Friday night. I should probably get on that, but then again I still haven''t finished writing about my spring break travels, so I'll do that to procrastinate.
The train ride from Berlin to Munich was the longest of my German adventure, sending me from the northeast part of the country south into Bavaria, home of leiderhosen and pretzels. I emerged from Munich Haupthbanhof sometime in the afternoon. After some initial struggles finding wifi, I was able to direct myself to my Airbnb, drop off my things and make my way back to the city center.
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| Wait, I don't remember all these bikes |
As I had grown accustomed to during my travels, I found it in my best interest to explore the city center by walking up, down, and all around it. I certainly came across my fair share of interesting sights, my favorite of which was most definitely this provocatively posed boar.
From there, I made my way to a more well known green space which is Munchen's Englisch Garden, another huge public park in a major city. I don't know why, but I am all about these parks now. On my walk there, I came upon a sight I would not have expected to come across in the middle of southern Germany: surfing
Right at the entrance to the park was a river way that emerged from underneath a road bridge. The force of the gushing water at this part of the river was apparently strong enough to produce a consistent wave, ideal enough for shredding some waves. Surfers would jump in one at time, ride for about 30 seconds or so before falling back into the stream, with the next one in line jumping in:
The English Garden was abuzz with activity on the lovely Thursday afternoon. Hordes of people and dogs were out enjoying themselves in the seemingly vast acres of green space. There was a group of German students playing what seemed to be a rudimentary version of Beer pong on tables covered with bottles, Grown men throwing frisbees the length of a football field, and just a lot of conversation going on.
As I made my further into the park, I arrived at this Chinese Tower, the significance of which I do not know. The interesting part of the tower is that it housed a large outdoor Beer garden. At this point in the evening, I was both famished and parched, and couldn't help but experience the beer garden for a little while.
So I sampled a bit of German spaetzle and a half liter of Hefeweizen. Now contrary to other European beers I have tried not from Belgium, this was actually quite good. Of course, nothing compares to Belgian beer, but the Germans are not too far behind.
I decided to call it a night, head back and rest up for my one full day in Munchen.
Now as cool of a city Munich is, the city was not the draw that brought me there. The main impetus for me going to Munich was so that I could also visit the Dachau Concentration Camp. I had never visited a concentration camp before and it was something I wanted to do while in Europe. I decided that I wanted to visit Dachau specifically as it offered a sense of personal significance to me. My grandfather, Daniel O'Connor of Providence, RI served in the 179th infantry of the US Army during WWII. During the war, his infantry division was incorporated into the 42nd Division, the group that would liberate Dachau from the Nazis on April 29, 1945. I do not know too much about my grandfather or his experiences during the war. He passed away when I was just 2 years old, so I don't have any specific memories of him in my life. From what I've learned of him through my father and aunts and uncles is that he was a strong committed man who served the Providence police force for many years. According to my aunt, he rarely spoke about his experiences during the war. Clearly the events one must witness during the war are not something that one would like to recall. So while I do not know much about his experiences, I do know that he was there to witness and liberate Dachau. To go to this site meant a lot to me, so the entire experience was very touching.
To get to the Dachau concentration camp, one must take a 15 metro ride and a further 10 minute bus ride that drops you off at the camp site in suburban Munchen. I'm not usually one to purchase audio guides at museum, but I wanted to soak in this moment as best as I could. From the point of view at the visitor center, you can not see the camp directly. Several hills surround the main camp grounds, blocking it from view. This is not how it appeared during its time. The hills are actually man made, formed from the discarded rubble of SS buildings that once stood in their place. As you walk by the hills, you approach the main gate of the camp.
This front building remains relatively unchanged from the war period. So this would be the first sight that those entering the camp would see.
Outside the front gate has largely changed. Their are some archaeological remains of previous buildings and infrastructure that existed during war time. This includes a set of rails that were used to transport prisoners to the camp. When American troops first arrived at Dachau, the first thing they saw were piles of dead bodies in rail cars right outside the main gate. A Prisoner transport had occurred a short time earlier, and the bodies were of those who did not survive the trip. It was a horrific site that was covered in the camps museum, including actual footage from the liberation.
As I walked through the main gate, I was first greeted by 2 memorial plaques, honoring the members of the US army who participate in the camps liberation, which includes my grandfather.
As I walked through the front gate, I gathered my first glimpse of the camp site that my grandfather laid his eyes on 70 years ago.
Now the camp I saw, was very different from the one seen by my grandfather. None of the orginal barracks remain today. two have been recreated to show they would have appeared internally during the Holocaust, and the sites of the others are marked with their original concrete foundations. In front of the barracks, is the vast camp yard, where roll call would be held. Facing the field is the former camp administration building which now houses the camp museum. In front of the building are a series of memorials dedicated to the prisoner and victims of the camp and the Holocaust. To me, the most powerful memorial was a simple stone message adorning a wall with the phrase "Never Again" written in several languages.
I then went inside one of the recreated barracks. The barracks included recreated bed frames. During the war years, Dachau was held significantly over capacity, and one of of these barracks that were meant to hold one person ended up housing 3-5 different people at once.
After seeing the barracks, I then entered the old administrative building, that now houses the camps museum. The museum details the camps history from its creation as the first Nazi concentration, its growth into the model concentration camp, its wartime uses, and post war life. Dachau opened in 1933, originally purposed as a camp for political rivals and religious dissenters of the Third Reich. It soon grew to be used as a prison for ordinary criminals, before becoming a full concentration camp for jews and other victims during the world war. The camp grounds were much larger than they appear today, the existing camp site consists of the main site where prisoners were held. What no longer stands is the surrounding mini camps, Nazi housing and work sites that surrounded the camp. Dachau also controlled more than 100 different sub camps in the Munchen area.
There were plenty of artifacts from the camps records, prisoners personal items and some materials left behind after liberation in the museum. The following drawing was drawn by a prisoner, and shows a depiction of what a roll call would look like at the camp. A chilling image:
The museum dedicated a certain area to the camps liberation. This included the aforementioned video of American troops arriving at the camp, discovering the rail cart full of bodies, and their initial glimpses of the camp and its prisoners. The exhibit included numerous photographs of American serviceman within the camp. I couldn't help but wonder if my grandfather was somewhere in these pictures.
At the end of the exhibit, was a room full of creative works made in the memory of the Holocaust. They included some interesting pieces that I would like to share.
Behind the old administrative building is the camps bunker, which was used to hold "special" prisoners in their own single cells. These special workers were not subjected to the long days of hard labor that other prisoners had to endure. Outside the bunker is the wall of the firing range, were many prisoners were gunned down.
The cells have not changed much over time. After the war, they were used to hold Nazi war criminals during the Dachau trials.
I then traveled to the opposite side of the camp where several religious memorials have been erected. It also provided a closer look at the camps wall set up, that included a trench, and a "no mans land" inside the camp fencing. Guards were instructed to fire upon any prisoner that stepped foot on the grass near the trench.
I then walked through a small gate that leads to the site of the camps crematorium, where the masses of dead bodies were burned during the war. The crematorium is hidden in the back corner surrounded by forest, that blocks it out of sight from the main camp site. There are two crematoriums at the Dachau camp. The first and older crematorium was erected before the war, and consists of two incinerators.
During the war, the amount of dead far increased, and the crematorium could not handle the increased numbers, so a second facility was built. This new facility also included a cleansing station and a gassing chamber. It is important to note that the gas chamber at Dachau was never used for the purpose of mass killing prisoners, as was seen at Auschwitz. However, gassing was tested at the facility and some prisoners did in fact die here.
The new crematorium contained 4 larger incinerators. during the end of the war, resources were dwindling and the Nazis stopped burning corpses a few weeks before the camps liberation.
The ashes of the bodies burned in the crematoriums were buried in mass graves near the site. The graves were located along a small path that led through the neighboring forest.
During my visit, I overhead a tour guide explaining how the atrocities committed at this site were further emphasized by the beautiful area that the landscape of Dachau is. A quaint little forest town in Bavaria, the thought that mass killings of so many innocent people could occur here is haunting.
Along the path was another shooting range were many prisoners met their fate as well.
After a day of remembrance, I took one last look at the camp site, and tried to imagine how it must've appeared when my grandfather laid eyes on it 70 years ago. It not the same place that it was during the camps liberation, but having now visited the site, I feel a closer connection with my grandfather's memory, and for that I am thankful.
I had one more night left in Munchen, so I attempted to squeeze as much sightseeing in the rest of the day. I next stopped in at the BMW museum. I am not much of a car guy, but it was enjoyable to see the history of BMW and the changes in cars throughout the years. There were some cool displays:
And I also learned quite a bit too, like why a 6-cylinder engine is called so:
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| Because it has 6 cylinders... |
a prototype made of wood and cheese
some more stylish sporty models
futuristic designs,
and some artistic designed exteriors:
At this point in the day, it was raining quite hard which put a bit of a bummer on my next visit. The BMW museum is located right next to Munchen's Olympic Park, home of the 1972 summer Olympics. The park has been well maintained, and is a beautiful site in the midst of the city. Despite the weather, there were plenty of people running through the park, and there was actually a Spartan race course being set up for that weekend. In the middle of the park, is a massive hill, which I hiked up in to get a nice panoramic view of the park grounds, which includes the Olympic stadium, the lake, various other athletic complexes and the television tower.
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| Worth it |
On my way out, I unintentionally stumbled into the former athletes village, which now serves as a form of cheap or student housing. I was not quite sure. I was of course reminded of the infamous picture taken during the Munich Olympics massacre, which occurred at this site. All the buildings looked the same, so I was not sure which building this photo was taken of, but I know I saw it.
With the day winding down, there was one more sight I wanted to see, while it was still visible out. So i made the trek out to to the northern part of the city to see Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich, one of the most famous football clubs in the world and the premier team in Germany. Let me take a moment to just say that the name Bayern Munich doesn't make any sense. Bayern is the german word for the area of Munich, which we know in English as Bavaria. Munich is the english translation of the city name which is known as Munchen in german. You see the irony? So, the team should either be referred to as Bayern Munchen or Bavaria Munich, but yet they are always referred to as Bayern Munich. Language is weird.
The Allianz Arena is one of the bigger football stadiums in Europe, and is known for its sleek pot like design.
After being drenched in rain for a few hours, I returned to my airbnb to dry off a bit. For dinner that night, I visited the world famous Hofbrauhaus, the traditional massive beer garden in Munchen. I listened to the authentic band play a series of songs,
Enjoyed a comically large pretzel and a meal of roasted pork, and of course a liter of beer.
I ended up meeting a nice Canadian man that night, who seemed to embody every Canadian stereotype (extremely polite and friendly, said "eh", and loved hockey"). It was a fitting way to end my trip to Munchen. It really is a lovely city, full of friendly people and good weather at least when I visited. I got some rest that night, and set out for the final destination of my German tour the next morning: Koln. Cheers.
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