Ok, I would like to preface this post with an apology. Remember how I said that my camera went on the fritz in Copenhagen? Well, it threw a full blown hissy fit in Munich. The first day it refused to focus unless I zoomed in a touch but I managed to get some pictures (see the last post). The next two days it decided that it wanted to say "Lens Error" and make a feeble little buzzing noise every time I turned it on, which was rather disappointing. So, there aren't any pictures for the next two days of the trip.
The day after we arrived in Munich, Kun-Wei and I took tour of the city from the New Europe Tour Group with the incredible Sonja. She was super cool. The awesome stories from the last post? Those came from her. She's a comparative lit major working on her Master's Degree in Munich on violence literature and if you're in Munich be absolutely sure to take her tour. She'll do a wicked impression of the Glockenspiel dance for the group. So, we came into Marienplatz, met the group near this awesome statue and explored the area around there. Very cool!
That night Kun-Wei and I did a beer tour! We had a lot of fun. I learned a valuable lesson that night: when you do a beer tour with someone and agree to split a...fair number of beers with that person, make sure that person drinks at least as fast as you or make sure you slow down. And if that person says, "Oh, I just want a sip, you should drink more," you should not drink more. We're gonna go ahead and leave it at that except to say a big thank you to Kun-Wei for being a good person to travel with and having my back. Thank you. :)
Ok, remember earlier in the post when I said that there would be no pictures? Well, I talked to Kun-Wei and she was nice enough to send me some pictures! I considered removing the note at the beginning but then I was thought, "wouldn't this be a lovely surprise?" So, surprise! This is from the night of the beer tour. That was at the second to the last place. I think we held our own! Kinda...
This next picture is of SPAETZEL. I love love love spaetzel! It is mac and cheese on STEROIDS and it goes quite well with beer. YUM.
Incidentally, I also got this picture:
Recognize it? Maybe? I'll give you a hint. THE DEVIL IS IN YOUR PANTS.
The next day we woke up and decided to do a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. And this is officially where the blog takes a turn for the very serious. I have to say, I'm rather glad that I don't have pictures of this part. It was one of the most moving and, frankly, disturbing experiences of my life. We were once again touring with the fantastic Sonja but there was no joking and Glockenspiel dances today. We took a train and then a bus to the memorial site. I don't really know what I was expecting but...wow, it was a really hard thing to see.
In middle and high school we read a fair number of books about the Holocaust and learned a good deal of World War II history, but nothing makes history come alive like walking around the places that it occurred. This is one of my favorite parts of this trip so far-that feeling of genuinely interacting with history-but here it was really troubling. I realize now that the Holocaust and concentration camps had been rather abstract for me, but visiting the memorial made it far more real than I think I anticipated. The thing is, concentration camps weren't just about starvation and death. That would have been bad enough. The systematic and...mind-blowingly awful torture that went on at Dachau and other places makes my stomach clench even now. I don't know that I want to go into specifics, but I would highly recommend reading more about the subject or, if you can, visit a memorial.
Sonja emphasized two things on her tours that I thought were really important things to keep in mind. First, Munich (and Germany) has dealt with it's legacy from World War II. From a very early age, German students are taught the history of Germany's part in WWII and in Bavaria students are required to have visited at least two former concentration camps prior to graduation. It's illegal to deny the Holocaust in Germany. The Germans have taken responsibility for their history in a way that I think is really admirable. It's a good example of how to deal with painful pasts and perhaps the best preventative measure for a historical repeat.
The second point that Sonja made is that the atrocities committed during Hitler's reign were not German atrocities, they were human atrocities. The thing that kind of sucks about humanity is that there is a great deal of room for terrible cruelty in human nature. A lot of potential for evil and hate and all of that horrible stuff in addition to complacency and unquestioning obedience. What happened in Germany could have happened anywhere. To anyone. It's still happening in places like Darfur and Bosnia, and pretending that it could never happen in other countries (including our own) is very naive. So we need to be vigilant and keep things like the Holocaust and concentration camps in our memories. Because for all of the evil in human nature, there's also a lot of good and a lot of noble and we shouldn't forget that either.
Sorry about the soap boxing, visiting the Dachau Memorial was a profoundly moving experience and has kept me thinking since.
More updating soon!
Much love and cheers!
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