BMW and Dachau

Yesterday we traveled to BMW in northern Munich for a tour of the museum and BMW World. The BMW establishment was located next to the Olympic Stadium, home of the summer Olympics just three decades ago. Along the tour, we experienced the long history of BMW, stemming from the first production models to future generations of Bavarian Motor Works vehicles.

Today we visited the very first concentration camp from World War II, located in Dachau. We experienced a thorough two-and-a-half-hour tour that explained the gruesome events that occurred on that very land. On the tour, we were led in the same gate as the prisoners and followed their initiation into the deadly regime. Over 42,000 prisoners perished before the U.S. troops liberated the establishment in 1945. It was not exactly our idea of a good time, but the experience left us with a much more profound understanding of how the prisoners were treated during World War II.

Tonight, we are on our way to Heidelberg for the last leg of our journey abroad.

The BMW World Building.

A full-scale clay model of a BMW.

One of the art cars at the BMW Museum.

The entry way in Dachau concentration camp. These are the same gates that the prisoners had entered just over 60 years ago.

A look down a hallway of prisoners' cells.

The ditch that is pictured shows how difficult it would have been for an inmate to escape. The canal is followed by a tall, electrically charged barbed wire fence which is also shown.

The most haunting site at Dachau was in the Crematorium.