Munich, Germany

**Prepare yourself for a lengthy post. I have a lot on my mind**

Another day, another city. I’m starting to understand why everyone told me that two days in each city is not enough. I’m glad that I’m getting to see a lot of different places, but I’m only getting a taste of each city. On the other hand, I’ll definitely know where I want to come back to. Munich, Germany was an interesting city. It had a tough act to follow after Prague. I met up with three friends from UW on Wednesday night and spent a couple days with them.

We went on a day trip yesterday to the very first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. It was so surreal to stand in the same place where thousands of people were imprisoned and murdered. This specific concentration camp was used as the model for all other camps across Europe. So basically, they kept it as beautiful and clean as possible to mask what was really happening inside the camp. When the Olympics were held in Germany in 1938, they showed Dachau on international television for the world to see, but because it appeared more as a rehabilitation center than a concentration camp, the world had no problem with it.

In reality, thousands of innocent people were brought in, completely humiliated, starved, worked to death, and forced to live in terrible conditions. These people were not treated as humans, but as numbers. The gas chambers and incinerators were referred to “waste management”. Toward the end of World War 2, the camp was filled about 10 times maximum capacity. Rooms intended for 70 men were filled with 500-600 men. I don’t mean to be too blunt or insensitive, but this was the harsh reality for thousands of people who lived in this camp. And this was just one of hundreds of concentration camps.

When I’ve watched movies about the Holocaust in the past, it was easy to assume that Hollywood exaggerates what really happened. The opposite is true. No movie can truly depict the extent of the inhumanity that occurred. I’m blown away that the Holocaust occurred less than 100 years ago. It’s hard for me to comprehend how one group of people could be so cruel and evil to another group of people. There’s no way to justify that.

I’m still processing and reflecting on what I saw yesterday. The time and place of my birth have a profound impact on the life I get to live. I could have easily been one of the 11 million people killed in the Holocaust, but for some reason, I get to backpack around Europe and live a privileged life. I don’t get it. I DO know that I need to stop taking things for granted. Every day is a gift, and I need to start treating them like so. My life can be small and meaningless, OR I can truly impact the lives of others. My plan for the rest of this trip: Figure out my purpose and enhance each life I touch.