Munich: Dachau - Part D - some stories

I'll try to maintain judgement on each story so that it doesn't get to redundant, but I'll say now - these stories make you laugh because you truly cannot believe that people can be so evil.

The Prison

I talked about the prison in yesterdays blog but I didn't go into detail.

It was such a horrific feeling being in there. I'm not one to go for the supernatural, but if anything has ever been haunted - that is the place! In fact our tour guide when in there alone has heard voices talking to him. As well, someone on one of his tours, a big bulky football player came out completely white asking if the place was haunted, because he too had heard a voice speaking with him.

Becky took one picture of the hallway and at first thought she had caught a ghost on film. If she had I would not be surprised. It was already so cold in there, and when you looked into the different cells you kept expecting to see someone in there.

Back when operational they used to keep people in closets, just big enough that you couldn't sit down, meaning you would be forced to stand for weeks on end, with little to now break.

They also had a black box that was completely free of light, pretty much lying in your own coffin - one guy had stayed in there for four months. The only reason that he knew time was passing is because of the warm meal provided every four days.

Punishments

One of the real punishment like things we saw was this bench that we saw and it had a wooden whip that would be carted out in front of everyone and if you were getting beat you would be forced to count the number of hits out loud for everyone to hear. If you made a mistake you start again, if they couldn't hear you start again. Many people died from the injuries caused by this alone.

One other punishment that was actually outlawed, which really strikes me as odd that of all the things they did - they would outlaw this - was having the prisoners hands tied behind their back and then suspended from a tree. This could eventually crush their rib cage. The reason it was outlawed was because it left to many people injured and incapable of working.

The Grass

Along the entire perimeter of the camp was a grass boulevard (?) that prisoners were under no circumstances allowed to step upon. This meant they would be immediately shot, no questions, from one of the six guard towers. This then meant that guards could actually throw someone's hat on the grass - they'd be beat if they didn't get it, and shot it they did. Prisoners could also 'accidentally fall' after a push from the guard. And as a last resort it could be used as a means of suicide.

I know that I say grass, and you're like - hey, I thought this place was lifeless. Well it still is, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't a lot of trees which I found to go oddly with the fact that they could grow life in a place that harvested death. The trees themselves weren't original but they were in fact the same species that had grown when there were prisoners there.

Munich: Dachau - Part C - more info

When you think 'prison camp' you assume that being in the camp is already a prison - but would you expect a prison inside a prison?

I didn't.

I still don't know if I completely understand the entire purpose. Realistically it was just some sick perverted game for the Nazis to play. I guess they needed to keep those people separated from the other prisoners so that they wouldn't get 'ideas' because that could have lead to a possible revolution. But realistically they weren't doing anything in prison to contribute to the efficiency system of the german government so I don't quite understand. I guess because they thought that these people could be of some help to them, possibly by the information they could have possessed.

I guess one thing that I didn't realize was that Dachau was initially opened in 1933 - the year hitler came into power. This was originally a place solely for political enemies. Some prisoners, those that didn't stand out, actually lasted the entire 12 years at Dachau.

The whole of Dachau was the first prison camp and was known as the school of terror. There is a japanese architect that designed a house that was supposed to help people lose weight because they would constantly be shifting and never able to really sit still, hence burning more calories. This seems to be the same basis for the Dachau school of thought. Just doing these small little things that degraded people, and bring their spirits down little by little. Nothing super obvious, just like you don't notice when you have one thing out of place. When first opened and there were less people at the camp, one of the things prisoners would have to do was build these tiny little walls by carrying bricks from one side of the camp to the other. Once the wall was finished it would be kicked down and they would have to build the wall on the other side of the yard. All little meaningless activities.

Dachau was known for being so 'good' at what they did that they were the training school for all major prison camps. In fact, the director at Auschwitz was hired for that position solely because of his Dachau training.

This place where they used to train prison guards is now used as a training centre for the Bavarian Riot police. Our tour guide said that one day he was taking people around to the gas chambers some of the tear gas used for training had enveloped that area. While we were there we just heard yelling.

Another thing I want to stress was that the camp was not just a place for jews - as mentioned before Dachau started as a place for political enemies and as hitler gained more power, the definition for enemies of the state was expanded so that racial discrimination became a larger part of everything.

Munich: Dachau - Part B - initial reactions

Arriving to the camp I didn't know what I should expect.

We had a fantastic tour guy and only six people on our tour so it was nice to be able to have such an intimate experience and be able to ask questions without worry of interrupting his speech. Often on tours you'll encounter those who really don't care that much for history and ours was an exception. To get to the camp itself we took a train about 25 minutes south of munich and I didn't realize that Dachau was actually a little town itself. What a bad name to have because the whole world assumes it with prison camp.

So from the train station we took a bus to the actual site. I think the weather described my feelings well that day. It was pretty hazy, with a little bit of wind. I just couldn't get comfortable.

We started out in front of the gates market 'arbeit macht frei' - which apparently were replicas as the originals were stolen shortly after liberation. I'd really like to know where they are now. One thing to remember is that this camp was opened I believe in 1965, by survivors and family members. Another neat thing was that at the entrance there is a way to go around the gates so that survivors of the camp would never need to walk through those gates again. Something I didn't expect was that the door was only a small door. I thought it would be a larger gate.

There also seemed to be a lot of army vets wearing their proper 'squadron A blah blah' there and they didn't look old enough to be part of the liberators and all I could think of was the pompous american attitude about 'yeah we came and kicked some nazi ass' or 'if it wasn't for us you'd be talking german.' I really can appreciate what they did and in no way do I want to downplay it. But I don't appreciate bragging about killing people. Sorry I'm just a pacifist.

It was very very open there and it's always and strange feeling when you're in a wide open space, but it was even weirder being in a wide open space where you have heard about the atrocities committed there. All you think is really? really here? It seems that dead or lifeless is a good way to describe it.

There is also a wall on the far side of the camp, and right on the other side a normal road. I feel like for myself I wouldn't want a road there. I just thought it was strange.

In general though it was so hard to wrap your mind about everything. Inside the actual museum part we ended up watching about a 20 minute movie and there was a lot of footage from when the americans came to liberate the camp. If that's how horrible conditions were when they were liberated it is so difficult to imagine conditions prior to that. In fact our tour guide said that 2000 people died even after liberation because it was so bad.

In one part of the video it showed some ladies being toured and shown a room just full of dead bodies that were supposed to be there for cremation. I was in there. I think the crematorium and gas chambers were the worst part because it was just direct murder that happened there. Like there was no waiting for someone to die off - you specifically chose those people. I did feel a little weak and sick to my stomach.

It's weird to think how many people died there - of both torture and sickness. And although they did have a gas chamber there it was used 6 times. Something I thought was strange - and as I was walking through it I admit I panicked a little - was that they were told they were going to have a shower. That's the worst ruse I have ever heard. Especially because they would see the burning that was going on next door. And the worst was that of course the clothes would be sanitized and reused for the next prisoner - straight off the back of someone who had died yesterday.

The strangest part of the whole camp was the beauty of the garden surrounding the gas chamber and crematorium. It was so green and so lush and so calm and pretty. But it was also the home of the ashes of thousands of people.

Also surrounding the camp was the clearest river I have ever seen. Just a little quick moving bubbling stream that was so calm - apparently many ashes were sent down that river.

Even without the stories narrated to us by the tour guide it just wasn't a comfortable place to be and you really felt the physical presence of nothingness.

Munich: Dachau - Part A - introduction

So I actually made a draft for this. Actually I made a pretty long draft on the train ride home - and I'm in the library at school working and left that draft at home.

Anyways, it is very difficult to talk about the prison camp using an positive associations. Leading up to the tour that I went on with Becky we were talking about how we were feeling about this upcoming trip. But it was so hard to find the proper words that we wanted to use because no I'm not excited about going to a prison camp, I'm not looking forward to it. Like it's just not a place that anyone would want to go.

I think that going there however is very important and necessary for people to visit to really grasp. But even after my visit I find myself searching for more understanding. But truly one can never understand the magnitude and the damage of the camps. I have myself already been to the holocaust museum in Washington DC but the more I learned about this whole situation the more I want to understand.

One thing I never realized was how many work, or labour and concentration camps there were. Many were however just smaller outlets served to help serve the larger camps.

So over the next few days I'll share my adventures and some of the different things I noticed. I think this is something that I could realistically type at length about so I'll break it up over the next couple of days so you don't get bored all at once.

I just want to note that it is really hard to talk about this kind of a subject without sounding to cavalier. I want to stress the importance of this kind of place so that we can kind find some way to honour all those unnamed victims.

Munich: Partied a little

So the last time I went to Munich I had one goal in mind - drink as much beer as I could

I saw two things - drunks and dirndls

This past weekend I felt that this needed to change.

I saw a few more things this weekend.

I think that one thing I certainly noticed this past time was the difference in just the way that people are. There seems to be a lot of pride in being a Bavarian, which is something that I had heard about before going to Germany. I can't quite pinpoint what it was, but it was just the way that people held themselves and talked about things, as well as the architecture. The more cities I visit outside of mannheim the less I enjoy it here. It just really made me feel a lot closer to history because all the buildings felt so familiar as though out of a movie. Sadly it reminded me a lot of german history during WWII.

So we left thursday after what I'm hoping is my last university presentation ever...if it's not I'm going to be pretty upset. But I'm not going to dwell on how badly I got screwed by mannheim. (that's last blog)

So the first night we went out to a club called pacha which is apparently super famous in europe, meaning I definitely haven't heard of it. It was obviously not my type of music seeing as how the electric-disoc-pop-trance-Idon'tknow does not appeal to me. It would be cool to explore a little bit more of the indie music scene.

It was weird at this club because there were so many different demographics. We were back at the same club on saturday as well and I looked to my left and there are all these posh little 18 year old boys and I look to my right and it looks like their dads came along with them.

The best part about this club though was that we went with people who had contacts at the club - I'm not sure about the whole things. All I know is that I didn't pay for a drink all night and we started of thursday with bottles of champagne. Decent!

Then on saturday it was super strange because we were able to just pop right on into that back where they keep all the stock and people are working. Light up a smoke for those who wanted to - whatever, no problem. I felt like a VIP.

The best part of saturday though was not realizing the time - and getting back to the hotel to dip our sore feet into the warm bath tub. I looked down at my phone - 6:11! And the craziest part was that I'm sure I could have gone longer. I have really found my perfect zone of tolerance.

When we were at the first club in saturday is that there was one guy who was leaving and he left us half a bottle of vodka (or wodka). Again - decent!

Now don't get the wrong idea that all I did was drink this weekend. I just can't fit everything that I want to say into one blog - you'll leave to earlier to finish everything...if you haven't left already!

I'm screwed - thanks Mannheim

So I'll give you the entire list of why I don't ever recommend going to mannheim business school.

I'm screwed right now

I wanted to go to this intensive seminar which is a class worth 6 ECTS (or a half credit) which is all I need to graduate.

So I went to the class yesterday and it was discovered that I did not register for the class - but wait...I did register for the exam last week.

I talked to some of the other girls in class and apparently they had received an email in august about limited space in this class and that registration was necessary simply to attend the class.

So I'm clearly in class panicking the entire time - but I'm thinking no it's going to be ok It's gonna work itself out. I went multiple times to go talk to the chair in charge of the class but he wasn't there.

So I sent him an email last night detailing the situation.

Dear Mrs. Schmidt,

Thank you for your note. Since the number of applicants for the Procurement
Course (OPM 543) exceeded the course capacity we had to restrict access to
the course. All applicants were informed about this process by email about a
month ago.

I am sorry, but since we have reached the maximum number of participants
(and rejected many applicants) I cannot admit you to the course at this
stage.

Kind regards,
Moritz Fleischmann

Sir - I don't understand 1. if you have a heart (no because a lot of germans don't - sorry) 2. you realize what kind of position I am in. Other people may be trying to weasel their way into this class but I have no other options literally.

This year, aside from being amazing to live in Germany - academically has been the worst that I've ever had. It's so frustrating to have one plan coming here to the university and trying to be prepared as possible and then having all your plans changed the moment you get here. For example - all the classes I had planned to participate in - I think I'm in one of those. Everything that we received in the online course outline had completely changed when we got here. We also couldn't register for anything online because all the masters students would be getting priority to get into those classes anyways.

So now all I can do is think back at how could I miss something like this - was it my fault?

And the worst part is that now I have to go back to school again. I feel so pathetic.

So I think right now the best plan is to take a class next summer at university of winnipeg - oh but wait. I have no money because I've spent it all here. Literally it's such a waste of money because I had to pay full tuition for a credit and a half. That's bullshit!

And it looks even worse because when you're the student it's always assumed that you just weren't paying attention. That's just how the world works. But I honestly don't know what else I could have done.

I'm going to go talk to someone at school and see if there is any last hope for anything.

I'm really upset though.

Movies again

It's really sad - but it seems that I watch a lot of movies being away from home. Especially the fact that I don't have television. you may be thinking - why on earth do you need to watch TV, you live in Europe - make the most of your experience. This is a very valid statement. I have thought the same thing a few times and that has prompted me to go on a few little day trips. In fact yesterday I decided it's sunday, I have nothing to do, why not walk home from school. It only took about and hour and it was such a nice day, but I wish I would have brought my ipod (side note - my shuffle has such good songs right now. I was listening to it on my way home from something and every single song was a hit - unreal!)

But anyways, belec and I have starting going through trilogies. So we started with Lord of the Rings and now we are starting harry potter. I think we have star wars and indiana jones coming up. (She decided that she hated Indiana Jones because of the latest movie with aliens - which I have not seen. That's like judging star wars by episode 3!) But it seems that with each of the series things in public remind me of what we've been watching. Because it happened with LOTR and now it's happening with harry potter. It's really strange.

It's also interesting how all of us in the house like different kinds of movies. And it's also weird how they overlap. Like belec and syl both like disney and thrillers, which I will watch every once in a while. Syl and I enjoy musicals and random other comedies, like some chick flicks. Then becky and I like fantasy and then other comedies that syl doesn't like.

I was really trying hard to think of what kind of genre I'm really into. Because the movies that I enjoy don't necessarily fit into the same category. What I've come up with is that I love characters. I think that's why I enjoy movies like wet hot american summer or it's always sunny in Philadelphia. For me it's not just the lines that characters say. It's what they are saying in relation to who they are. And I think that makes things even funnier, when the writers are able to really understand who the person is, and then the actor is able to interpret and act into that as well.

does this make sense? (I think this should be the new name for my blog)

Also - I watched viva las vegas recently. Number one - there is something weird about the way Ann Margret Dances. Number two - if I ever became a famous musician I would love to do 50s musical covers as part of my set.

twitter success story

So I know that I used to be a huge twitter basher, but like saul on his road to rome - I had a conversion (not religious however). Perhaps this metaphor is a little to dramatic, but never-the-less I converted to more twitter for coming to Germany.

Manny was always trying to convince me how awesome it was and that I shouldn't knock it until I tried it. I've had fun for the first little bit, but realistically I figure that nobody really reads it or for that matter really cares.

Also, I have these silly student loans and since I'm not getting more money every year I have to confirm that I am in fact still enrolled in a post-secondary institution so that I don't have to pay any money back. I usually just have one form to fill out and I got that done super early this year. In fact I was able to complete it all by email. Now I recall in my first year having to send a separate form to Manitoba student loans however the past three years I don't recall doing this (although I am forgetful). Needless to say - mother and father received a letter in the mail detailing my repayment schedule - no thanks I have no money and I'm still in school. So we called just to see whether or not they had just not received the form I sent to the national student center and we find out there was another form as I initially suspected. (I'm sorry the set up is taking longer than I expected - I just need you all to have context) So I have to get these forms filled out. Since I don't have a printer my mother filled out the few parts she needed to and scanned and sent them to me so that I could send them to the same people at Brock that completed my last forms.

This was two weeks ago that I sent this. I received no response. I sent a second email a week later. No Response. In another attempt I sent this again yesterday. In an exasperated attempt to vent some frustration I took to twitter so that brock would know I was not impressed.

@BrockUniversity does anyone work in #safa. I have been waiting nearly two weeks for a response #onexchange

No less than 43 minutes later I received a message back from brock saying

I'm looking into it and trying to get you a direct contact for your questions."I have been waiting nearly two weeks for a response"

Then within the hour I received this (I'll protect some privacy here)

Please contact (name), Manager Financial Aid at (email address) or (phone number)

(Name) also mentioned that she also doesn't mind calling you. Simply email her the phone number and time to call

That's decent service!! - although it shouldn't take a desperate twitter cry to receive this!

So I emailed this lady and this morning I was on the top of her priority list!

I was talking to the girls about this and apparently some large companies are starting to implement technology so that they can see real time what customers are needing - this is especially in hotels and airplanes.

Awesome.

Random Day Trip: Kaiserslautern

So bright and early on saturday morning - about 9:17 I woke up and decided to go to the farmers market. It was so cute and there were so many old people. It smelled wonderful, but was actually more expensive than I was thinking. I love the eggs that I got from there too. And the strawberries were fantastic! Still tasted relatively fresh - not quite as good as fresh picked but way better than store purchased.

Then later in the afternoon we were planning to go to Heidelberg, just to do something with our day and not just bum around. So we headed down to the "hauptbahhof" (central railway station) and got on the S1 which we realized after getting on was not going in the direction of heidelberg - we had to option of getting off, but of course my favourite thing to do is go on adventures into where ever. In fact I have plans of one day going to the train station and just getting on the first regional train that arrives. Why not?

So we decided that we could have an adventure. We were just going to get off whenever a city looked interesting. The first interesting looking city was neustadt - but we didn't get off there. We waited another half hour to get to Kaiserslautern. Obviously none of us had been there before, but we just decided to go for a wander and see what was up. The train station had a really odd location in the city - being that there was nothing around it. I'm pretty sure there black community had set up shop in the train station vicinity. Generally I expect to find some sort of activity around the train station but there was none. So we continued upon our walk until we found a pedestrian mall and it seemed that so many of the stores were closed. But the farther we walked the more people there seemed to be (and more stores were open, not that we even went in). So eventually we made it to a cafe where they were showing soccer so we decided to have a beer and then the girls ordered pizza.

I was just excited because I got to try a new beer. It was decent, but pretty generic tasting. I like the generic beer we have here in Mannheim better. But it was fun to just sit and drink - except I was dying of heat sitting beside the window.

We then used the power of technology to figure out what the heck we were going to do the rest of the day and found there was this dino-park where there were dinosaur sculptures everywhere. So again using the power of technology of the blackberry (at least they are doing something for me) I was able to find our way to this park. Once we got there - which was around 5 we realized it was 5 euros to get in. By this point certain members of the group who don't walk that often seemed to be a little tired from the day and all the walking we've already done so we decided to forgo the experience and just take pictures with the sculptures outside. If I had the camera I'd put some pics up here - you'll likely just have to creep my facebook.

So after that I became the master and I successfully guided us back to the train station using an alternate route - without a map!!!

Another favourite hobby! I just love testing myself.

bye bye

So I don't know if you all out there know this - actually I don't really think I understood how much I loved movies until this year. I don't know why I love them so much. I guess it's that great escape from the real world. I have been trying to watch ones that are very inspirational style wise. So one idea I recently got was to watch the musical film bye bye birdie.

It seems to me that actresses back in the day were so much more multi-talented. Movie stars today are really picked based more for look as opposed to pure talent. That's a fact - not to say that some good looking actors don't have talent, but generally no, it's not that way.

Anyways, I won't go as far to say as Ann-Margaret has a really great voice, however she can keep a tune, and man is she a babe.

Needless to say - I really like this movie and honestly wouldn't mind seeing it live.

Date nite anyone?

business school

For getting a business degree it is necessary that one takes a variety of business classes. These included classes like finance, accounting, operations, and so on.

I am currently taking an intensive block course out here at the university of mannheim and it is called value-based marketing.

One thing that came to me while sitting through the five hour lecture yesterday was the fact that in every class that I take, that prof always seems to be trying to prove that the aspect of the business that they teach is most important for success. I remember our prof in my operations class even saying that there was always a constant battle between what comes first.

I guess it also depends on your organizations focus - on whether or not you want to figure out what customers want and then cater to that, or dictate what your customers want by marketing the crap out of them.

I personally think that you can have to crappiest product in the world, but if you are good at marketing then you will be successful.

Example - especially in Canada where we have so so much fresh water, why on earth do we spend so much on bottled water? Think about that.

Munich: Oktoberfest

So there's a lot I can say about Oktberfest

- it's the worlds largest folk festival, last year brining in over 6 million people

- they serve over 5 million litres of beer

...

- and I was THERE!!!

There's not a lot I feel that I should share on this public forum, in order for some self preservation as well as the fact that not all details are completely clear.

I will simply make some remarks

I do not understand how it is a family festival. - The large amount of intoxication is perhaps something I would feel less comfortable keeping my children around. Even in the morning there are drunken baffoons wandering around.

the servers are badasses! - They are renowned for their ability to carry multiple steins of beers at a time but they are more than that. They are some tough old broads and have to deal with idiot tourists everyday, but they really do care for their patrons. They especially are looking out for the ladies. One day belec and syl climbed up on the bench to dance and they guys at our table went under their skirts with a phone momentarily, and the server saw and came over and bitched them right out and kicked them out of the area. They were all just so sweet but you don't want to get on their bad side

There were so many whistles - these ladies are carrying heavy stuff and you have people stumbling around everywhere. Instead of yelling a bunch of them just whistle so loud at people. Then there are cops with whistles. Every time they came charging through everyone in our area just erupted in a cheer.

Basically, it seemed like everyone was there to have a good time. People weren't coming with a bad attitude and there seemed to be somewhat of a sense of community - although the italians were pretty annoying. A lot of people just wanted to meet new friends and gather for songs and fun and drinks and food.

Something else interesting. It was not a very diverse festival. Pretty much everyone was white....