Visiting Dachau...

One of the most horrible days of my life was when I visited Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany...

Photos of people arriving on trains... I stood where the photos were taken, next to the train lines.

I stood where they handed over their only possessions before taking a shower on their way to their room...

I stood in the showers...

I looked around and could see the photos on the walls matched the room I was in amd the trim tracks about 5 meters away...

These people thought they were taking a shower to clean off.

In addition to water, cyanide came from those taps...

They thought they were taking a shower to get clean... they were instead going with the flow, guards around them as they followed those in front of them, calmly lining up to take their shower...

The guards following orders turning a blind eye to what they very likely knew was not just a shower...

I stood there... and looked around...

What the F*%$!... Are you F@#$%^&* kidding me?...

This is totally F*&^%$ up!... and I need to get the F*&^ out of this country right now...

I was totally overwhelmed by the environment.

I had missed this lesson at school, probably playing tennis...

I had no idea that these places existed and certainly didn’t know what happened in them...

I found myself in a situation because of lack of information...
going with the tourist suggestions... not seeing if this was right for me...

I remember holding an apple with me the whole time... trying to pass my energy to the apple... so it could save me...

Fortunately I had driven myself there. So I was able to go straight to my car and drive...

Although it was in the afternoon I had to leave Germany ASAP... my whole system was in overload...

I drove back to Munich and packed up my tent in the campgrounds...Grabbed my map and started driving south... no idea where I would spend the night... but I had to get out of there...

I ended up going into a tunnel and 20km later came out in another country... I didn’t even know which one... all the signs were no longer in German...

I was running low on petrol and had no idea what the currency was... the prices app changed and I tried to work out what country I was in without them realising I was just a lost Aussie...

From my map (yep the fold out paper ones) I worked out I may be in Austria and then guessed a few thick lines of ink might make my way to Switzerland... I found some accomodation on a lake near a railway station... It was very high tech... you walked up to the machine at the front, choose your number of nights and it printed out a code for the main and room door... just before dark I found somewhere to sleep...

But I was not in Germany...

However... those people...

They knew they were at war... they knew they were caught in the crossfire... they followed instructions... they thought they were just having a shower on their way to their room...

Horrible... what a horrible time for these people... I know people who survived European concentration camps... I won’t say who, but their mental strength was unbelievable... Some people reading this will know them too...

So... perspective... so wherever possible I try to take a step back out of the weeds... to see what may be really going on in any situation... and make sure I am not an innocent participant of someone else’s story.