Today we visited our first concentration camp of the dialogue, Dachau, and honestly I wasn't sure what to expect. The first thing that shocked me was the fact that there were residential areas so close to the memorial site of the camp. I found it sort of eerie that there was a nice little town with shops and houses that surround the location of the first concentration camp to be built in Germany.
Another thing that really baffled me was one of the first things we learned upon arrival: the former housing of the SS soldiers is still standing today and is the location where the Bavarian Riot Police are trained. Not only are those buildings still being used but I found it hard to believe that they are being used for something like that.
When we were walking around the camp we saw a few houses that clearly overlook the barracks and other areas. It was brought to our attention that the people living in those houses clearly would have been able to see, hear and even smell what was occurring in Dachau. Despite that, the Germans who lived there denied knowing what was going on in the camps.
Overall I think that I learned a lot from our visit at Dachau and I hope that the visits to other concentration camps will offer as much information as this visit did.