So much has happened since our last dispatch that I really don�t know where to start. The election is over in the States, our stay in Munich ends this afternoon, and we have seen some pretty amazing sights. Colleen is showing more and more. The baby has started reacting to our voices�
We spent the entire day before yesterday at Dachau, just a few minutes� trip outside Munich. The camp, the first to be erected after Hitler took power, has been largely rebuilt and is used now as a massive memorial to those who perished. Exhibits in the camp show bunks used by the prisoners, the original gates still cry forth the motto of this and so many other concentration camps, �Arbeit macht frei� (Work sets you free). The original crematorium is intact, with the oven doors open to reveal the final resting place of so many souls. And although the Germans claim that Dachau was not a killing factory and that the gas chamber was never used there, it was no less chilling to find ourselves in such a distortion of human reality.
As we walked through the camp, with the bitterly cold German wind buffeting us, I couldn�t help but think about all those who endured so much on those same grounds. Political prisoners, captured enemy soldiers, Jews, homosexuals, and so many more, forced to endure a nightmare. Nothing I have ever seen has moved me like this site. It seemed as if the wind carried their screams from the inhumane tortures and living conditions. The Germans liked torture. One of the most commonly used methods was to tie a person�s hands behind his back, attach the rope to a hook in the ceiling, and hoist him up. Sometimes they were left up there for an hour or more�
I guess it all serves to show us what humankind is capable of, where demented minds can lead us when given too much power. And although I know it is futile to believe, I can�t imagine that anything like this could ever happen again. Then I read the paper and realize things like this happen � perhaps not on this scale or with this degree of brutality, but certainly with equally horrific results � in many places in the world today. Sadly, we are condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past as long as personal vendettas are allowed to become public policy. Of course, brutality is only recognized in the loser. Bob MacNamara, one of the architects of the bombing campaign over Germany and Japan later in the war, admits today that he, and others, would have been considered war criminals if the Allies had lost...
So after that sobering trip, we tried to make the most of our evening. We had a nice meal at the restaurant underneath the hotel, but nothing seemed quite right for the rest of the night. I sat up most of the night watching election coverage.
Yesterday we went to the Munich Residence, the home of Bavarian kings for hundreds of years. Like most of the palaces we have seen on this trip, the Rococo style dominated the furnishings. If you aren�t familiar with the style, imagine white walls with stucco design work covered with far too much gold gilding made into plant life or whatever the royal family liked. The effect is one of unbridled opulence � the attitude that the occupants have lots of money, aren�t afraid to revel in the fact, and sincerely desire to humble all those who come to grovel at their feet. I can�t imagine any other reason Rococo emerged. It can�t have been nice to live in, there�s too much going on all the time � the walls swim with decoration, the furniture is too intricate to take in � not the type of place to sit back and watch a baseball game with your buddies.
Well, that�s about it. We have the entire day in Munich today � art galleries, it looks like � before leaving for Rome on an overnight train tonight. We reserved a private compartment, not a couchette like we had on the trip from Paris to Madrid. Let�s hope we get a good night�s sleep.
We�ll be in touch.
Paul and Colleen
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