Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial & Munich – City of Beer

The site itself was as grey and sombre as the day and the mood of all who entered.  The kids themselves were old enough to know to be respectful and there were all types of people visiting here.   You wondered at their stories…did they loose family members here?  Were their families part of the liberation?  Or just like us, having heard of the horrors were they they there to show their respect and honor the past and those that lost their lives, with,  lets be honest, abit of morbid curiosity thrown in.

We all enter through the same gates the prisoners did.  Prisoners arrived by train to the town of Dachau and walked to the camp flanked by guards.  Everyone passed under the gatehouse and walked through the wrought iron door bearing the legend ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ Work Makes You Free…on the other side is the huge open roll call area where the men gathered everyday to  be counted.

This is the Maintenance  building in the middle of the roll call ground, built by the prisoners so they could manufacture items needed by the Nazis.  This memorial sculpture stands outside as a dedication to all those that have passed through the gate. The museum is now housed in this building.

The museum is excellent – it outlines the camp from when it was first set up, who was originally sent there and charts the course of how, as the War progressed  numbers, conditions and Nazism escalated until liberation in 1945. It also shows accounts of the ordinary people who were sent there, there pictures and stories are very emotional.

The barracks where the prisoners lived were small, 50 men lived in one room at the height of the war.  Typhus broke out regularly and decimated the population with up to 150 people dying every day, one prisoner said all you could smell was shit, rotting bodies and the stench of burning flesh from the crematorium.

Dachau was not an extermination camp, or death camp, (ironic saying that really) but it was set up for execution experiments and these were done by gas. You undressed in one room, went to have a ‘shower’ in the next, where you were locked in and then gassed…sometimes taking up to 45 mins to die, then, the next door opened into the crematorium….

Walking back through the grounds where the barracks used to be and seeing the beautiful avenue of trees that lined the roadway, this is where, as a prisoner you would have walked to roll call, looking up at the beautiful free sky and over the fence to the woods and the green fields, listen hard you could even maybe hear the small river that ran adjacent to the grounds….then look to where you were living and how you were existing….thinking of home and your families…terrible.  This photo shows the barracks, the avenue and the prisoners while also giving you idea of the scale of the complex.

202,000 men were sent to Dachau….32,000 were recorded as dying there with 1000s more unaccounted for.  This is the book that holds the names of all those who have passed through the gate….

After leaving Dachau we arrived in Munich within 20 mins.  We found our hotel in the shadow of the old town and moved into the Hotel Schlicker, the second oldest hotel in Munich, there has been a hostelry on this site since the 1300s.  Hope our room wasnt too medieval….nope, all good.

Straight out onto the street we came to the Viktualmarkt which was right behind the hotel.  A whole wee suburb of food!

Permanent tiny shops, market stalls and stands, selling every type of wine, sausage, cheese and everything in between. All this was built around a giant Bier Garden…lots of tables under trees where you could buy a picnic from any of the stands, buy a beer from the beer hut take a seat and have a munch.  There were so many people and the smell was delicious, cooked sausages of all kinds, cooked chicken halves and people gnawing on the famous Munich pork knuckle.

The detail is amazing, the planted flower boxes at the windows add a pop of colour to the facade and in the tower are the lifesize figurines of the glockenspiel.  We were in the square when it played…and so were all the other tourists, what a crowd.  The glockenspiel has 43 bells and 32 figures that perform two historic events.  The top half tells the tale of a knights tournament held in 1568 to celebrate a royal marriage, complete with jousting knights on horseback and one killing the other, way cool.  Then the bottom layer starts, representing the Schafflertanz….which is the thigh and ankle slapping dance of those dressed in Lederhosen…that went on and on…the figures were spinning round and round and Rosie had to sit down as she felt a little giddy from looking skyward.

If you look at the buildings on either side of the Neues Rathaus you will notice that they havent been restored with such detail…there facades are painted on.  It kind of takes a second glance to notice it.

One of these painted buildings is the Altes Rathus where on the 9th of November 1938 Joseph Goebbels gave his hate filled speech that launched the nationwide Kristallnicht programs.

We wandered down the shopping avenues to the The Residence, a palace that reflects the power and grandeur of the Wittlesbach Clan who were the Bavarian rulers from 1385 – 1918.  It dosnt look much on the outside but the building on the right is one of the palaces wings and look at the painted on front, fine example.

We just poked our nose in the door of the palace and then crossed the road to the Feldherrnhalle square – a memorial for the armies of Barvaria is guarded by two lions and next to it stands the mustard coloured church where alot of the kings of Germany are buried – Theatinerkirche built in 1662.  It had heaps of scaffold on it and building wrap…..

The whole centre of Munich is very compact and so easily walkable, we wandered on til we got to the English Garden and strolled into it like so many others were doing.

We had a destination in mind, the Chinese Tower. Round a corner and there it is…a huge Chinese shaped Tower set in the middle of Munichs oldest Beer Garden.  They had stands selling food and beer…you bought your stein of beer, got a token, when you finished the beer you handed the glass and token in and got back 1.50 euro.  We stayed for a beer and half a cooked chicken and chips….then it started raining.  We caught one of the buses that ran through the park, it stopped right by the subway which took us back to the Marienplatz, steps from our doorway.  Was easier than we thought with a little help from the bus driver…of which The Operator didnt believe the first…so we waited till the next one to be told the same thing…

Before you think, wow Rosie you and The Operator have had a busy afternoon, I must confess I am mixing two days into one posting.  We go up early on our second day in Munich and headed out, we wandered around and thought when are the shops going to open, bloody lazy buggers, its 1000am – it wasnt until sitting down having a coffee in front of the glockenspiel and waiting for it to start that we got talking to a lady who said it was a public holiday today, it was a religious holiday celebrating Jesus going to Heaven 40 days after Easter.  Plus it was also Fathers Day…which would also account for the amount of men wandering around in Lederhousen and drinking beer already at 1000.  These guys had there own portable keg they were towing, they set up and sat down in the square for a beer and even had their own pretzels.  Rosie said to the lady all the men are going the same way, there must be something on…yah, said the lady they are all going to the Hofbrauhaus…The Beer Hall….well then, it would be rude not to make an appearance ourselves!

Rosie and The Operator waited till about 6.30, and the place was pumping, the place is huge…they reckon they can seat about 2000 in the hall.  Its simple really, walk in, find a seat at a communal table, introduce yourself to your table mates, order a beer from the roving fraus, Prost the table and you are away.

Then you start swaying to the sounds of the brass Oompa band, serious, they had one and it is the start of a good night!  Rosie and The Operator were having a ball.  We ordered our 1 litre stein, drank it then came the time to decide…stay or go.  Back in the day it would have been all systems go to what would have been a messy night….age and wisdom have caught up with us…we left, consequently Rosie is headache free and able to start early again the next morning.

The tale of beer drinking and beer halls leads on to the tradition of Oktoberfest…this sixteen day extravaganza sees 6 million visitors to Munich a year.  Can you believe it!  A temporary meadow city is set up just full of beer tents and it all started from a wedding toast in 1810.  The Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig 1 married Princess Therese and they threw a big party at the city gates.  The next year Ludwigs fun loving subjects came back for more and so it began, year after year.

Spurred on by the exploits of Noel and Dayna twenty years past…Rosie and The Operator have ‘borrowed’ (as they call it) a couple of steins  from the Hofbrauhaus in covert fashion so Oktoberfest can be celebrated in the Ohawe Beer Hall……

Tomorrow we are driving into the Alps…the temp is supposed to be 3…not sure if I have anything warm enough to wear….its supposed to be summer!