Going to Dachau, the concentration camp, will be an experience I will never forget. It's been about a week since we visited and I am still at a loss for words. There is nothing that could prepare you for visiting a concentration camp where thousands upon thousands of innocent people were brutally tortured and killed. All throughout school you learn about the atrocity that was the holocaust and the millions of lives that were lost. However I don't think you are able to grasp the sheer evil that it was until you have the chance to walk on the same land where so many innocent prisoners suffered.
Immediately, right when we stepped foot on to Dachau, an eery, creepy feeling crept over me. It is a feeling that cannot be explained, I almost felt as if I was numb. Before going to Dachau I didn't exactly know what to expect but I was pretty sure that I was going to be emotional. I was fully prepared to cry and be struck with all sorts of emotions but for some reason I just felt numb and somewhat emotionless while I was there. I don't know what it was but my experience was nothing like I thought it would be. I feel as if my experience may have been slightly different if we didn't have a tour guide with us. I think that silence is very powerful and if we would've walked around the concentration camp by ourselves just observing and taking everything in, I may have felt more emotion.
However, one thing that I noticed with our group was that everyone was very silent which was not so typical for us. Every other time our group is together we are all laughing or singing and talking but when we arrived at Dachau everyone's demeanor changed. We all became very serious and somber, trying to decipher all of our emotions and thoughts. I think the numb feeling that I felt was common among other people as well, that it until we went to the gas chambers. Going through the gas chambers, where so many lives were lost so tragically, was a moment I will never forget. At that moment, I did not feel numb, I felt a wave of sadness and anger come over me. That was the moment that all of my emotions came flooding, and I could not understand how anyone could be so incredibly evil.
Nazi propaganda was a big part of our course and going to Dachau, it really helped me understand the major impact it had during the war and the holocaust. During the tour of Dachau we saw some of the pictures that the Nazis used for their propaganda. The Nazis would pick the healthiest looking people at the concentration camps and make them smile for a picture to trick the world into thinking that the concentration camps were a good thing and were not harmful. Looking back at it now, it is so hard to think that people actually believed those pictures. However, the public didn't have any other evidence to believe and the Nazis were so good at tricking people. All in all, this experience was one I will never forget and I believe that it is an important part of history that people need to visit and see for themselves in order to make sure that this never ever happens again.
-Kelsey Krug