Lori and Troy do Europe 2025

Today we had to wake up early. It is a crime when you are on vacation and retired but we did it. The train we chose was the cheapest available because we are trying to save our Eurail passes for the expensive legs. We still booked 1st class ($70 Euros) but almost a 3hr ride hitting every station along the way. It was as a double decker train so we sat on the top and had real nice views which gave us time to prepare for the tour ahead. The nice thing was that we had the whole 1st class car to ourselves most of the way. The country side was beautiful and one of the stops was a huge Audi plant.

We arrived at the Dachau station and saw that the memorial was 1.7 miles away. We started walking not considering how much walking was ahead at the memorial. After about a half mile we came across a bus station. We definitely do not have those figured out yet. Apple Maps is a big help in these situations and tells you which buses to take. We did not have tickets so we boarded in the middle of the bus away from the driver and ticket taker. We made it to our destination without any questions. I was prepared to speak Pig Latin if needed to cause a language barrier if we were asked for a ticket. Of course, over here they speak every language so you have to pick something that they may not know.

We decided to do an audio tour which can be a little bit of a pain because you have to hold the device to your ear to hear it. Bad shoulders don’t help in these situations. The camp was massive with only the prisoner part accessible. I included numerous pictures and information below. Our expectations were not as we expected. The camp was extremely interesting but there were probably 300+ listening stations which took several minutes each to listen to. We also brought several Kleenex as I expected to be just short of sucking my thumb at the end. It was actually the opposite and only infuriated us as to how this could happen and the extreme level of bullies that were allowed to run freely here. This was the first Concentration camp and all other camps were patterned after it. It started out as a camp for political prisoners that disagreed with Hitler and Nazi propaganda. It was later expanded to the press and anyone that spoke out against Hilter and the Nazis. Within a few years of eliminating history, the Nazis started arresting people that did not look like them. Some survived, at least 1 escaped and was a witness at the trials after the war. Most were tortured or randomly killed. Many were killed and posed as suicides for example there were cells where they were hung for days but the chain were not long enough for them to lay. Just stand or sit. The propaganda that the media believed for a bit was because when they visited Dachau they kept a barracks specifically for the “special prisoners” which were politicians, religious leaders and some journalists. They fed them daily and decently and they didn’t have to work like the others so they were not emaciated. The others were fed every four days with food that had very little nutrition. Basically bread and little soup. This additional buildings that were built was designed for a max of 6000 prisoners and regardless of that, later housed well above capacity at 30,000 by the end. I can’t even imagine how they all fit, 6000 seemed a lot. Many shared bunks.

I could go on but there is so much information that I took pictures of some of the information boards. I hope you take time to read them. There is a lot of history that we should be aware of and to never allow a repeat. This memorial was pursued by the survivors for this reason. Germans are embarrassed and would prefer we forget which is understandable.

I should mention the gas chamber that I did not get a picture of. This was an awful place where they would tell prisoners that they were going for a shower and would be locked in and gassed. The inside was a concrete room that had several vent holes on the top. It had fake shower heads so that the victims would think it was showers. They were ordered to disrobe and enter. The gas pellets were added to fold out chutes that administered the gas. The rooms next to the chamber were filled with cremation ovens.

We could not complete all of the audio tour because we only had 5 hours and it would take longer than that. We feel like we completed a large portion of it. It was so interesting that we bought a book of testimonials. We had some Curry Wurst and Apfelstrudel with crème at the cafeteria and decided to catch another bus back. We worked our way in with a group going back to the train station and there was no one checking tickets on this bus as it had people practically hanging out the windows because it was so packed. Just when you thought there was no more room, we would stop at a bus stop and 5 more people with luggage and back packs would crowd in. This happened stop after stop until the temperature was about 90 degrees in there. Of course I stood next to a portly fellow that talked and emitted high levels of BTU’s the whole way.

We arrived at the bus station looking like we had a fever of 105. I thought that might trigger some people to exit the bus but they held firm.

The train ride back was only 1.5hrs but was packed! The train was a couple minutes behind which only means you better get on quick because they are trying to make up time. As it pulled up I knew that 1st class was in the back so we started hustling. I was so focused on getting to the back of the train that Lori fell behind. The red lights started beeping and the doors closed. I could hear Lori yelling “get on the train” in a voice that was a little condescending. I looked back to see only her head peeking out from the train a few cars back. Fortunately I was able to push a button and get on. Close one! We met in the train and thought we were in the first class which was packed to the gills. There were people sitting on the steps of the train of this 2 floor train. People are not very considerate and tend to layout their belongings next to them in an effort to claim more area. It takes a convincing stare to get them to move over and is why we like 1st class. At the next stop I decided to do some exploring and found the actual 1st class section. Nobody in it and 1 car further back.

We arrived back in Nuremberg had dinner and crashed around 10pm. Tomorrow is a travel day to Munich for the start of Octoberfest.