Dachau

When I was 15, I had the opportunity to go to Europe for 18 days.  I went with my high school English teacher and a group of kids from our school.  It was an amazing trip.  I saw beautiful and wonderful things.  It was a once in a lifetime experience that I hope to share with my son and husband someday.

Dachau is hands down the the place that has stuck with me the most over the years.

It was a gorgeous day in Mid-June.  The weather was just amazing.  I remember it all with intense clarity, down to the way the sun looked like as it filtered down through the leaves.  I remember being shocked at how beautiful and peaceful the place seemed, until we got inside the gates.

We made our way through the museum, and I bought a few books to bring home.  I broke off from the group at this point.  I was a bit of a loner for most of the trip, and this was one place I wanted to explore on my own.

It was surreal.  Walking up and down between where the barracks stood, knowing what people had gone through there.  Everything was very quiet.  People were silent as they explored the camp and everything just seemed to be completely still.

The crematorium and the gas chambers were the hardest thing to see.  I wasn't sure that I could go in there.  I wasn't sure that I should.  Eventually though, I made myself do it, because I thought that it was important that I see it.

It was beautiful and it was terrible.  I spent most of the day in tears as I wandered around the camp, reading every little plaque and taking pictures so I would always have that reminder.  It was a good place for me to see.  It's a good place for anyone to see.

At the end of our trip, when we were in Amsterdam, we went to Anne Frank's house.  I had a similar reaction as we wandered through the tiny attic where she lived.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Someday, we'll take our children to the Holocaust museum in DC. We'll take them to Dachau.  We'll take them to Anne Frank's house.  We'll show them these places because it's important for them to know.  It's important for them to see, for them to feel the pain that still radiates there.