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Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany

Dachau was Germany's first concentration camp. It is distinctive because it is where SS personnel like Hess and Eichmann trained for work in newer camps such as Auschwitz.

I remember taking a train from Munich that went through beautiful countryside then stopping at a station in the burbs that could have been any burbs outside of Chicago, then taking a bus that went through an affluent neighborhood not different from any of the gated communities of Makati in the Philippines where Philippine wealthy and foreigners live and then getting off on a corner.

Then it was there ... it was surreal ... you could own a condo in this neighborhood and have in your backyard, a confrontation with what seemed to be miles of barbwires and history.

The atmosphere inside was heavy and the horrific past was palpable. Being a tourist that moment was difficult. I had a brand new Kodak disposable camera with me and took pictures as we approached the gate but could not manage to take any inside. I just cramped up. One is just not prepared to take a tour around, ever.

This history is far from my own history but there are parallels (the Japanese occupation of most of Asia for example). One just cannot imagine man's inhumanity toward man, but it happened and is happening now. It was quite a sombering trip around the compound.

I just found this picture in my files, scanned it, removed blemishes and dirt by Gaussian blurring and stamp clone tool, resized, and sharpened and thought of sharing this with you, as a reminder I guess, that we have to, sometimes in our treks around the world, through pictures or through the real thing, that we have to be vigilant, that history shouldn't repeat, if we could help it, by being aware, at least and take action, whatever it is, if we could, for change.

Note added: please view avigur's workshop picture. It is a vast improvement to my original picture.