Saturday, November 23, 2019

Dachau Concentration Camp - Munich


Since I was a young boy I was fascinated by this part of German history.  A very sad, dark chapter in their history and world history.  In my mind, to ignore that these things happened is not respecting the innocent lives that were taken.  What a sobering place, a quiet reverence permeates the whole site.


The site that exists today is mostly the tightly stacked series of buildings on the right and the U shaped building below with the walls and machine gun towers on the perimeter.


Prisoners were told that they were worthless when they arrived and would be treated as such.
The entrance below is what over 200,000 prisoners saw when they arrived at the camp.



This is the big lie seen on the gate when prisoners first arrived. The German words shown on the gate read in English, "WORK SETS YOU FREE"   Most of the prisoners were used in forced labor camps, working to make ammunition for the war or various products that were sold to raise needed cash. There is no evidence that this promise was ever kept.




The building on the right side is a reconstruction of what the barracks for prisoners looked like.


All the dots shown on this map represent other concentration camps scattered
throughout Europe modeled after the first one, Dachau.



Some Nazi propaganda of the time period.




These camps were sub-camps to Dachau, making goods or ammunition in forced, slave labor.



This is the original gate from Dachau.


These memorials took my breath away and choked me up.  I too pray, "Never Again."



The picture shown above is from Allied reconnaissance planes when the camp was liberated by U.S. Forces in April of 1945.  It shows the barracks of which all you can see now is the cement foundations in the picture below. 





Prisoners were packed into these bunks, often two or three to a bunk.



The cement foundations are where barracks once stood.
The picture below is of the formerly electrified fence, to the right is a river.  Not many escaped from this camp.










Words can't adequately describe my emotions while at Dachau.  Man's inhumanity to man in history is so sad.  What gives me hope is that there is a loving God in Heaven whose son paid the price for our sins.  He made possible the resurrection and all of these people who died innocently are with God now and at peace.  Never to feel the pain of mortality again.  I firmly believe this truth, and it gives me hope.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Munich - It's Jimmer Time!

We spent two nights in Munich and enjoyed the sights and a basketball game at the Audi Dome.


The Andersons are neighbors with Jimmer Fredette and his family back in Denver. When they heard he was playing in Munich, a trip was scheduled to talk to him about a news article … 
and an opportunity to see him play. 




Warming up.


The Athens' fans were CRAZY. They did not let up the whole game. They were SO loud Dave immediately took out his hearing aides. It was a fun night and Jimmer was 2nd highest point scorer for his team. 


The rules are a little different in the European league. But a 3-pointer is still a 3-pointer!



Dave went to Dachau and the Andersons and I had scheduled a Segway tour of the city.
Sadly, they Segway tour fell apart, but we decided to take a bus tour of the city.

 

 


We thought the artwork on the side of the building was interesting.







Las Vegas City was really out of place here. So sad to see "The Greatest Gambling Hall in Berlin.





A wedding at the Nymphenburg Palace. Swans included.



St. Michael's Cathedral in Munich was gorgeous. Not many of the churches are used for worship now, but more for tourists.





The Christmas Market was beginning to take shape. Such a different feel in the evening.



Dave had a chance to visit with the President Brown of the Munich mission when we ran into them at sacrament meeting. He doesn't get much time away from the riggers of the job.