Dachau

This post was difficult to consider posting. I don't like to put up depressing things just the fun of it. This is about the tour I took of the former concentration camp Dachau. Growing up, I read a lot about WWII and the Holocaust and so I wasn't expecting to learn anything new, but actually being there was a sobering experience.  

Entrance to the main block where the prisoners were kept. 

The oppression, the cruelty felt tangible. 

An oven in the crematorium. 

A path to where the ashes were disposed of.

In the church that was built on the grounds, this Bible was opened to Psalm 22, the same words that Jesus cried on the cross. 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

I felt so strongly the confusion, grief and anger that mingled in the reactions and memorials.

Chapel of the convent build on the site.

This memorial moved me incredibly. It was a long fenced slope down to a dark dungeon-like room

with a single strip of light coming from up above.

It created a powerful image of the hope that God grants, even at the darkest times.

Part of the memorial included this piece, which starkly expressed confusion and anger.

And this one, with a chain decorated with Jewish stars.

The whole place left me feeling quite subdued, sorrowful but grateful. I am so thankful that God gives grace and blesses those who fight for justice. No matter how dark life seems, our hope in him will never be disappointed.