Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site




"On March 22, 1933, a few weeks after Adolf Hitler had been appointed Reich Chancellor, a concentration camp for political prisoners was set up in Dachau. This camp served as a model for all later concentration camps and as a "school of violence" for the SS men under whose command it stood. In the twelve years of its existence over 200.000 persons from all over Europe were imprisoned here and in the numerous subsidary camps. 41.500 were murdered. On April 29 1945, American troops liberated the survivors." (http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html)

Where roll call took place every morning rain or shine, whether one could stand or not.

The main gate at Dachau where prisoners walked through marked with the sentence Arbeit macht frei meaning  "Work sets  you free."
The layout of the grounds.

Where the buildings that housed the prisoners were.


1940s

Jewish Memorial

Jewish Memorial.

Each of the four furnaces in this room could cremate two or three corpses at a time.

Prisoners were told to get ready to take a shower, but were instead led into the next room: a gas chamber.




The old crematorium was built in the summer of 1940, after the foreign prisoners arrived and the mortality rate greatly increased. A year later it was already working beyond capacity. The crematorium was in operation until about April 1943. During this period approximately 11,000 prisoners were cremated here.



                         

Munich, in photos

Welcome to Germany, where "Mein Kampf" is banned but you can buy the English version in India and use it as your open window holder.



Slackline championship.


Bike lanes everywhere. Helmets, not so much (my style).



Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg)

Inside on the buildings within the Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg) 

Inside on the buildings within the Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg) 

Inside on the buildings within the Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg) 


I stand by my statement of "Sometimes trees look like upside down vagina legs".

The whole city knows these hotties. They are dudes. I was fooled.




Now that's how you frame your door. 



Frauenkirche.

The Black Footprint in the Frauenkirche. They say good ol' Satan stepped into this church but thought it was ugly because he couldn't see windows...and then he saw windows and was all 'I WAS WRONG!' and in that he left a very small footprint. I think I've always imagined Satan to look like Jafar as the evil genie in Aladdin. 


Inside Frauenkirche.

Nymphenburg Palace

New Town Hall in Marienplatz



You can buy fruit outside everywhere...but I have to say our New York organic is better. 

Of course I had lahmaun but it did not compare to Turkey.
Views from above.





The U-bahn.








Starnberg See. A huge Lake with the Alps to one side.

They say Munich water is the cleanest in Europe, and therefore the world maybe? It tastes a bit weird to me, but it must be because of all the chalk in it. The chalk is not bad for you, but it sure is bad for your tea kettles!