Year 9 Excursion to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

To begin, we were divided into our history groups and began our tour of the former concentration camp. In our group, we first viewed and discussed the Gestapo Political Department and the SS training centers from the outside.

What we found surprising was how the concentration camp was only slightly fenced off from the city. This suggests that the cruel mistreatment of the prisoners could not have remained hidden from the inhabitants of the town at that time.

Shortly afterwards, we entered an extensive area through a barred gate, where the prisoners' bunkers and barracks were located. The strict rules and everyday life of the prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp were explained to us.

Afterwards, we visited the museum. There we were told about the imprisonment and the many different causes of death of the prisoners. We also saw original footage of the liberation of Dachau by the Americans, which touched us deeply.

We then visited the camp prison, where the prisoners were arbitrarily locked up in small dark rooms for long periods of time. We ended our tour in the crematoria and gas chambers. Thoughtful about the impressions we had seen, we made our way back to the bus and to Salem.

All in all, it was a very emotional experience for our entire year group. We were able to form various new thoughts and emotions on the topic of National Socialism. To conclude the project, the following day we were given the opportunity to depict and reflect on our experiences in the form of charcoal drawings. Part of the reflection was also to think about what values a society must have so that something like this can never happen again.