We woke on Sunday and went to Mass in German at St. Michael's. Then we hopped on a tour to Dachau. Hitler's first concentration camp and the prototype for all the others was a sobering visit. The horror of the lack of human respect during that terrible period in our world's history must never be forgotten. Being there and experiencing the conditions and visualizing what it was like is something that will stay with us forever. Afterwards, we lightened the mood with good food and beer at Munich's famous Hofbräuhaus, which also has ties to Hitler.

Day 5—Dachau

Since it was Sunday, and we're good little Catholics, we went to Mass at St. Michael's church and heard lots of German and Latin

"Arbeit macht frei" means "work brings freedom" and was found at the front gate to Dachau

Dachau was not designed to be an extermination camp, as those were found outside the country's borders, but death was all around

The original (above) and latter (right) crematoriums where thousands of bodies were burned after the men were worked to death or died of other hideous causes

A statue of a defiant inmate bears the sign, "To Honor the Dead, we Remind and Warn the Living"

Delicious food, our names inscribed forever in the table, and a nice walk past Marienplatz

Back in Munich, we enjoyed the infamous Hofbräuhaus, where both Madeline and Mäggi join me in a tall cold one. Yes, Madeline really drank that and helped Mäggi, too

The prison electric fence

The last version of the barracks, where men were stacked three levels high and oftentimes on top of each other. Excrement and urine from above often made the unlucky ones on the lower bunks come down with diseases.

A sculpture that depicts men who decided to commit suicide by electrocution rather than go through the torture

A map showing all the concentration and extermination camps, as well as the mini-camps used for workers during Hitler's reign

Later in the afternoon, we went back and took a few more pictures

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