Germany-January 23, 2009

We woke to a grey day. Not snowing, but dreary. Almost an omen for the site we would visit today. We had decided to see Dachau Concentration Camp today. It was the first concentration camp set up by the Nazi's during World War II. It was a place of unspeakable horror, not just for the Jews who found their unhappy fate awaiting inside it's cold stone gates, but also for the numberless concourses of political enemies the Nazi's wished to sweep under the carpet and silence forever.

I had never considered that there were others who suffered in places such as these. Of course, everyone has heard about the horror of the holocaust. But, in my naive mind, I considered that only the brainwashed youth of the Nazi party had witnessed the brutality along with the other Jewish prisoners. It never occured to me that German royalty, politicians and respected artisans and doctors would be witnesses as well as recipients of the terror. I shook in disgust at the unbound fingers of evil in that time.

As we entered the city of Dachau and wound our way around to the camp, we were greeted by the cold, whitewashed walls watched over by looming towers. I shuddered. Towers that men stood on to hunt the prisoners as sport. Towers men stood on to taunt and harass. Towers. An outward manifestation of inward pride. A line from the book in my lap came back to my mind. "Any of you who think that these dogs are human, who think they have human feelings, should leave. You are unfit for the work of the SS." I could imagine the young SS men lined up, many afraid to ignore the call to arms by the Nazi party (remember, it wasn't just Jews in the concentration camps...all enemies of the Nazi party were fair game), and many staring at the gaunt, lifeless faces of the prisoners, sick in their stomachs. I imagine some were eager to participate, but after the images I've seen now, I imagine that any human with a heart would inwardly wretch at the sight.

We walked on the frozen ground, audio tour in hand, to the gate. "Arbeit Macht Frei" marked on the cold metal gate. "Work makes you free". I thought back to the book we had read for the last hour, the history of Dachau. I silently thought, "the only freedom here was death".

We wandered in the memorial, once the main building. Images of the Nazi party's rise to power and Hitler's rise to command it all were chronicled. Mixed with the images and mementos were cracked concrete walls with peeling paint. Though heated, it was cold in the place, but still a welcome refuge from the frigid wind outside. I imaged what it would be like without heat, how the prisoners had endured it. We read of individual prisoners, their families, their professions, their lives. Many of them were sacrificed upon the alter of greed and insanity. But some, by miracles untold, found themselves on the other side, survivors...voices for the numberless faces that didn't ever know freedom again.

By the end of the day, my heart was numb. I didn't feel the cold, my mind was so preoccupied. I wanted to weep. I wanted to weep for the sufferings of humanity. That men could be so cruel to their neighbor. That evil should have such a long, drawn out triumph over good made me sick. But yet, as I left the place, I felt that I was on holy ground. Not because of what had happened there...but because it stands as a reminder to me and all that we have a responsibility to stop evil in its place. That we who defend good should do all we can, sacrifice what we can, to keep such dreadful things from ever happening again. And for this, I am glad I came.