Dachau Memorial

We ended our weekend at the Dauchau Concentration Camp Memorial. This is something I have wanted to do for the past couple of years, but we just didn't know how to do it with the kids.  They discourage entrance to any child under the age of 12 but they won't turn you away.  There is a museum that presents the timeline of the creation of the camp until it's liberation. Outside the museum you are able to walk around the complex which includes a reconstructed barrack, role call area, partially reconstructed guard towers and outer walls and the crematorium.

The entrance, called the Jourhaus includes the saying "Work sets you free".

 

We chose to split up, Mark and McKenna walked the complex outside, while Bailey and I went into the museum.  After we finished, Mark went in alone.  I thought Bailey would decline the museum but she went with me and even watched the documentary film.  It is heart wrenching and I found myself feeling nauseated through the whole museum.  But when all is said and done, I feel strongly that younger generations know what happened here, how else do we prevent history from repeating itself?  I do understand that human suffering is ongoing and we have examples of it all over the world now.  But as a mother, I feel obligated to teach my girls the truth of the world which includes compassionate accomplishments and horrible acts of inhumanity, I want to teach them history.

This picture of Bailey and McKenna is looking down camp road.  The poplar trees are the actual trees planted by the prisoners during their imprisonment.

I still find it hard to reconcile the things that happened in this country during WWII.  Germany has taken back their country and made it their own again.  The German people are kind, hard working and like to have fun.  They are very social, they do not sit in their houses, they are out in the walkplatz, out to dinner and mingling with each other.  It is good to experience this while we have lived here, it shows resilience in their hearts.  Germany has so many treasures, not only in their landscape but in the traditional trades that they have saved and passed down from generation to generation.  I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to live here and experience German life!

Tulip Mania

In preparing for our trip to Holland next week I found an interesting book at the library titled, "Tulipomania". It is so fascinating that I thought I would share the highlights here. Scroll down to the popular section in the content list and read on. Pretty crazy stuff. Would have wanted to own a bulb or two back then!



Bailey and I are frantically reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" (since I ordered a copy from Amazon that is taking an eternity to get here and therefore we resorted to the good ol library) I was a little worried about how my sweet, compassionate, sensitive Bailey would take this story. It is heart wrenching, Anne's fate during this time. We find ourselves laughing, crying and questioning. Bailey keeps asking over and over, "Why would someone want to kill all those people just because of their religion?" I don't have the answer to that question because I don't understand it either. So my little girl is broaching an adult topic and the cogs and wheels are turning in her head. This might be the first time that Bailey has heard such a tragic true story and that it happened to a girl just like her. We plan to visit the Annex Museum (this site is fabulous, take time to click on the Anne Frank section in the title roll and read all her stories) next week, I already feel my heart racing and hurting at seeing the actual site of a story that is so real, and so unbelievably tragic. Part of my goal as a family while we are here in Europe is to not only see the "pretty neat" things but to also learn of history, whether sad or happy. I always do lots of research before we leave and give the girls as much info before we go so that their experience will hit home and stay in their memory. So stay tuned and I will do my best to bring you the images of Holland!