Munich - Dachau Concentration Camp and the Deutsches Museum

This past weekend, the Archdiocese of Military Services, along with the Military Council of Catholic Women and the Knights of Columbus, hosted a pilgrimage to Dachau Concentration Camp for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. I have previously been to Dachau, but my husband had not. I felt it was ok to take our children, and I would just prevent them from going to certain areas.

Unfortunately, we left the house much later than we wanted. We only had about an hour and a half to see the grounds, so I quickly gave Jon a tour. We saw the camp prison, the area where they did roll call every morning, and Jon went to the incineration and gas chamber area while the kids and I stayed outside the building and took a seat to rest.

Then we headed to the small chapel owned by the convent on the premises. There we attended a Mass with the Archbishop of AMS, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, and the Episcopal Vicar for Europe and Asia, Bishop Spencer. The Mass was beautiful, with the Knights of Columbus in their full regalia. It was also nice to see a few friends from other areas in Europe as well.

We did not take pictures inside the concentration camp, as it did not feel appropriate.

Outside Dachau, a daddy and his girls

We made plans to spend the night in Munich. After leaving Dachau, we headed to our hotel which was 12 minutes away and figured we'd get food closer. No such luck! There was no food place anywhere near our hotel. I told Jon I saw a restaurant right next to the parking at Dachau, so we headed back. It was greek food. The food was delicious and the staff was wonderful! I definitely recommend this restaurant.

The Restaurant we ate at.

 We spent the night at this hotel. It wasn't anything special, but it was a hotel room with 5 (twin) beds, and we snuck Beka in. It was nothing special, but for price, it worked. The description made it sound like breakfast was free, but it was 7 euro, and I said no thanks. We scrounged some of our food and had yogurt, fruit bars and fruit at the little table in the room for breakfast.

Then we headed out to the Deutsches Museum. This place was a lot of fun. There was a huge astromony area. Our oldest is really enjoying learning about astronomy lately, so I knew he'd love it. The guys planned to attend the planetrium show, but when they got there, they were asked for their ticket. Apparently you had to buy tickets elsewhere, not pay when you walk in. That wasn't mentioned anywhere we saw. Poor boy was very heartbroken.

Aside from that, there was a huge area on ships and we all really enjoyed that. Plus areas on ceramics, machines, mine exhibit, and more. There was a lot more, but we were unable to see everything. A note about the mines- don't do them last. They are long, and if you're at the end of the day, you just want to get out. :)

In front of the river that surrounds the museum

Having a snack at a rest stop

Z with the Sun

Watching a movie about space on the ceiling

In front of the ship (Right after Z was told they couldn't do the planetarium)

This was cool. They have a real boat house like this, and they test the boats in the house. So this had 3 boats that went across the pool, and we got to talk about how they were each different, like how the water was displaced. We were all impressed by it.

Hubby was so excited to find this. This is a lathe, and he use to use one before joining the military.

A super old lathe- I believe it was late 1800s.

Handsome boy growing up too fast.

Quick snack of Mezzo Mix and animal crackers before hitting the road back home.

Teaching Science

Anyone who knows me knows that I abhor science. Things just happen the way they do, it doesn't matter to me how they happen has always been more or less my take on it. I've never been good at science. I much prefer the creative, writing, English side of things.

With that said, I have constantly tried to find a science program for my kids that I could teach, even if I hated it. But every program I have hated. It has always seemed just blah, or very basic. I feel like let's cover the subject, cover it well, and move on.

So I finally bit the bullet and bought a program that I hear people rave about, but I had my concerns. My concerns are that it's a program that teaches Young Earth theory. I can't remember what I grew up learning, but I think it was more or less a young earth theory. I remember learning that evolution was completely wrong and anyone who believes it isn't a Christian more or less. I remember getting in to college and being so frustrated because I had a professor teaching about evolution. Even though most of it made sense, I put up blinders and tried to ignore it and read "A Case for a Creator" to prove my beliefs were right. There was even an evolution exhibit when I worked at The Field Museum in Chicago, and I very cautiously walked through there, only enough to be able to do my job in public relations.

However, over the years, I've come to realize and learn a lot more about creation, and I am now of the thought that the Bible didn't necessarily mean that earth was created in seven 24 hour periods. A day to God could have been 500 years to us, We just don't know. But we know the earth is a lot older than 6,000 years. However, I do believe that there was a Creator, and I believe that it could have been all started with a "big bang". We don't know HOW He created it.

So I was avoiding this curriculum because it taught young earth.  I had a friend who said she used it and loved it, and she just taught that young earth is a theory and here are the other theories. So, I bit the bullet, and already had the text, so I bought the kids' journals, and we began. By some miracle, we finished the entire first chapter this week, and.... drum roll... I enjoyed it!! I had a lot of fun teaching it!

We ended up making gliders and seeing how the different kinds created a drag, and had hypthesis, and all of that scientific stuff. ;-) Today it was so beautiful, we went outside to do school, and it was so neat to talk about birds, while listening to them all chirp and watch the mama stork feed her 4 babies in the nest in the back yard. And get the binoculars and look at them. Then this evening, we went on a walk and their notebooks had a scavenger hunt for a walk, and we had so much fun looking for the things as a family. I always hear that people should go on nature walks, but I never really notice and see anything. Having the scavenger hunt list really helped me and the kids to notice and see more of God's gifts.

All in all, I'm very happy with our new science program, and it has led to some great discussion at the family dinner table- the kids telling Jon how they know the Kingdom, Phylum, etc because of a mnemonic they've learned, or discussions about dinosaurs, or their favorite, about extinct animals like the Dodo bird. :) We'll be working our way through the book over the summer, since we haven't done any science this year, and we need to keep pushing through with our huge move coming.

Big sister helping lil' bit count the storks

Poland Day 6- Auschwitz Memorial

Warning: This post can be very graphic, hard to read and may make you sick to your stomach.

Ever since I was in the 7th grade, and had an amazing Language Arts teacher, Ms. Beckley, I have always wanted to go to Auschwitz and take in what happened at that awful place. She took the diary of Anne Frank, and turned Language Arts in to History class. I had never really known about WWII prior to then, and definitely did not know the awful things that happened. Never in a million years did I think I would actually get a chance to go to Auschwitz and remember those who lost their lives there.

We made the decision that the children should not go. At first I had planned to take them. I'm so glad I did not. We had reservations for Jon to do a self-guided tour of Auschwitz at 9am, and myself to go at 2:20 for a guided tour. However, after the incredibly busy week we had already had, that morning when the alarm went off at 6:30, we decided to skip Jon's self-guided and only I would go. We slept in and had a lazy morning at the apartment, which was desperately needed for all of us. We set out at 1 to get there. It took an hour to get there, so I thought with 20 minutes extra, we'd be fine. We weren't so fine.

There are two camps- Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. If you're going for a tour, you want to go to Auschwitz, which is straight ahead- don't turn right. We ended up at Auschwitz-Birkenau first. When we finally found Auschwitz, I was unsure where I was suppose to go. There may have been signs, but I had the look of confusion on my face and some nice man stopped me to ask if I needed help. We finally figured out where I needed to go, but I was 10 minutes late and was able to catch up to my group after walking through the "Work will set you free" gate. I'm not sure what I missed, but the rest of the tour was well worth it, even if I missed the first 10 minutes. I'm not sure what Jon's self-guided tour was like, but I think it's completely worth the guided tour. The fee was very inexpensive. If you try to do a self-guided tour, the time options are very slim.

I felt bad and a bit guilty doing it, but I did take some pictures, because I wanted to be able to tell Jon about what I learned. It was incredibly heart-wrenching and beyond words. Many things we were told, I already knew, but to hear them again, in this spot, was unreal. I have dragged my feet to do this post, because it's hard to find the words.

Here are a few things I did learn. Some of the prisons were on the "Canada Team". It was well known at that time that if you left Europe and went to Canada, you'd become wealthy. Therefore, when they took the suitcases from all of the prisoners, the Canada team was in charge of collecting their belongings and taking them to the storehouse. There were several barracks dedicated to storing these things, known as the Canada Barracks. Auschwitz kept some of these, and they are able to be seen. A large semi-flat bed filled with lady's favorite pots and dishes, two rooms stacked with shoes, suitcases, eye glasses, brushes, and more. The most troubling by far was the room full of hair. Braids, long hair, short hair, different colors. The Nazis then used this hair for textiles, to make blankets. There was even a blanket that they disassembled and found strands of hair woven in.

Image of the Canada Team at work.

We also visited cell block 11. This was where they did the most horrendous forms of punishment, the three main ones being (1) standing in a small cell block all night long, then being forced to go work the next day, where they often died; (2) locked in a room with no ventilation until the person suffocated; and (3) locked in a room that had ventilation but no food or drink until you died. This is how and where St. Maximillian Kolbe died. He was a priest who gave up his life for someone else and was therefore declared a Saint of the Catholic Church. A prisoner in their block had escaped so some people had to die for it. One man was chosen and said please, not me, I have a family. Maximillian Kolbe stepped forward and told the Nazis to take him instead. The man he gave his life for survived.

The barracks at Auschwitz

Between barracks at Auschwitz

A reminder left behind that the gates are electric.

Execution Wall

Immediately outside Cell Block 11 was a place where they would have a firing squad shooting people. Next to that was another building with an OB. This OB, prior to WWII, had worked to try to help women with infertility to get pregnant. During the war, his whole purpose switched and he set to work figuring out how to make women sterile, and doing horrid experiments on the women prisoners. Some he would keep them away for to see how they reacted. Some he'd kill them to then preform the operation to see what would happen. The guide told us much more and it was very sickening.

One of the barracks we went to had pictures of the prisoners. Keep in mind, not all the prisoners were Jews. There were many Poles, Germans, gypsies, etc. They took pictures of everyone who wasn't a Jew to keep records. But no records of the Jews, which is why it's so hard to know exactly how many lost their lives. It was pointed out that the pictures of people on the walls had people who already had broken noses, black eyes, bruises, etc. because they'd been through hell before they even got to Auschwitz. After a while, they decided that the cost of photography and the time was no longer worth it, so they started tattooing the arms (or the thighs for children). Our guide said Auschwitz was the only came that did this, but I am not sure how true that is.The prisoners would have different badges for what kind of prisoner they were. Jewish, political, homosexual, gypsy, etc.

There was a room with pictures of children. That's when I completely lost it. I just wanted to reach those children and hug them. My heart could not take it. They looked so sad and you could tell some were crying in the pictures.

The gas chambers at Auschwitz Birkenau were destroyed a week before the Soviet's invaded the camp. They left the remains as a memorial. There are pictures below of one of them. You can still visit all 4. However, the one at Auschwitz was not destroyed, and we were able to walk inside. I absolutely cannot find the words to describe it. There is a video of it here. You can see the video scans the ceiling- that's where they would drop the Zyklon B gas in.

Empty Zyklon B containers, the gas used to kill in the gas chambers.

Part of the gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau 

Part of the gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau 

When we stood outside the gas chamber at Auschwitz, we could see the house of the commander of the camp. It was less than 1/4th of a mile away. He lived there with his 5 children, with a pool and a slide in to the pool, with the smoke of the gas chamber so close by. Prisoners were his gardeners and cooks. I cannot understand or fathom this. After the war, he was tried and found guilty, and they brought him back to Auschwitz and hung him next to the gas chamber. There is a plaque letting you know that. They eventually stopped using this gas chamber because the screams could be heard by the prisoners inside the camp.

The gate leading from Auschwitz to the gas chamber at this camp.

After touring Auschwitz, we loaded a bus to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is the one you usually see pictures of, where the trains drove up between the gates and many, many people were immediately sent to the gas chambers. We did not have a lot of time here, but here's the important things I learned. This whole camp use to be a village. They rounded up the Jews and sent them to ghettos, and kicked the Poles out. Then they bulldozed the entire village, and used the bricks to build some of the barracks! After a while, the barracks were over crowded, so they tried to figure out what to do. They saw the stables that held approximately 50 horses, and decided to use these to house up to 500 people! Because they were built so quickly, the majority have been torn down for safety reasons, but you can still see the foundation of all of them, for as far as the eye can see. We went inside one that was used half as a wash room and half as toilets. This is a good aerial view to give you an idea. The long line down the middle is the train tracks, where my pictures below are taken from. The large yellow area is where there is only the foundations left of most of them. The buildings you can see below the two smaller yellow squares are the buildings that were made from the village and also pictured below.

Looking from the train tracks to the foundations left behind.

The main gate leading in to the camp, where the trains would enter through.

Looking to the back of the camp. To the back left is where the gas chamber was pictured before. 

The barracks built from the bricks of the village.

A train car used to bring thousands of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. The Germans were out of money and the Hungarians were rich, so they went there and rounded up all the Jews they could. From May 15-July 9 440,000 Jews were rounded up, the majority sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and gassed immediately. 

One of the horse stables turned barrack. I believe these were reconstructed for memorial purposes.

Israeli military members coming to pay their honor and respect. They played a version of TAPS to remember those lives lost here. It was very moving. 

Inside the 'bathroom' barrack.

The "toilets" if you could call them that.

A fireplace was in each barrack, but they really provided no heat.

Sometimes people would sit along the part in the middle trying to get warm.

Overall, while it was very difficult, I am so thankful to be able to have gone here and to remember those who lost their lives at this awful place. Here is a great link with better photos then mine.

While I was touring the camp, my husband took our kids here. It was a decent little place for them to hang out for the afternoon. Then we went to McDonald's for dinner, another great way to help them have fun during the day.

Day 1: Reservations and Day 1
Day 2: Bastei Bridge
Day 3: Old Town, Krakow
Day 4: Salt Mines and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Day 5: Shindler's Factory and Shrine of Divine Mercy
Day 6: Auschwitz Memorial

Poland Day 5 - Shindler's Factory and Shrine of Divine Mercy

Day 5- We had an appointment (booked online) for 10:20 at Shindler's Factory. We paid when we got there, 50 PLN ($13-Youngest two were free). We went back and forth on taking the tram verses driving. We decided to drive. I recommend if you have the ability to figure it out and can, take the tram. It was just taking so much time to figure it out that we thought driving would be easier. Parking was very difficult to find. We found it and had to make a mad dash to get there. Come to find out, if we had been a few minutes late, it would have been okay still I think. Also, when we came out, the que was super long, so morning reservations are a good idea! I'm not sure if you had prereserved your ticket, if you could have skipped the line or not.

This memorial was amazing and very moving. It portrayed more about Jewish life in Krakow than about the factory itself and Shindler. It was very informative with good visuals and a lot of reading. Jon and I wanted to read everything, but that just wasn't possible with the kids with us. So we read opposite things and shared what was important more or less. I don't think our kids got a whole lot from it unfortunately, We walked through what was portrayed as a ghetto, reading many quotes from Jews that lived there. Jon and I definitely learned a lot more that we did not previously know about the Holocaust.

Outside the gate at the factory

Jon and I outside the gate

There are only two small sections of wall remaining of the Jewish
ghetto in Krakow. The long part between the arch wall and the cherry blossom is one part.

Afterwards, we went to the Shrine of Divine Mercy. Since it is the Year of Mercy, I felt it was only appropriate we visit here. Saint Faustina was a mystic whom the Lord appeared to in 1931 and told her to have a painting made of the image before her (of Him) and the words "Jesus I trust in you" on the bottom. When the painter did paint it, she cried, because it could not possibly portray how beautiful Jesus is.

Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace.
— Words attributed to Jesus by Faustina in her diary

Here is the image with St. John Paul II before it. The image has Jesus raising His right hand in a blessing, and His left hand over his heart. From his heart flows two rays, one red and one pale (blue). The red symbolizes the blood and the blue the water.

While there, we got to go inside the chapel that houses the image, with the remains of St. Faustina below the altar. During this time, Adoration was also taking place. There is also a small kneeler with a relic, one of her bones I believe. None of us went up to look because it felt inappropriate during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

This is the basilica.

The kids with a statue of St. Faustina (or St. Caustina per lil' bit)

Kids with Divine Mercy

This is the little chapel where the image is and where we went to Adoration.

A picture of me! That never happens :)

There is also the Divine Mercy Sanctuary that was completed in 2002. This sanctuary is huge. We joined everyone in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm (the hour of Our Lord, when He died), and then attended our first Polish Mass. Let's just say, Alleluia and Amen were the only things we understood! For a 3pm mass on a Wednesday in April it was very full.

Our feelings were that there wasn't much to see and it is a place for quiet prayer. We had planned an entire afternoon here, and with mass, probably only needed two hours. Granted, if we didn't have children who were tired and at the end of their ropes, we could have appreciated the time of praying a lot more. The grounds are beautiful for walking. The sanctuary, being post-modernism, really disappointed us and did not lend well to meditative prayer for us. Post-modernism is the complete opposite of Christianity, so it was a bit surprising and felt out of place. There were bookstores that were incredibly inexpensive. I've been wanting a picture of a nursing Mary for a long time, and got a large one for only $15!

If you missed the other posts, here they are:


Day 1: Reservations and Day 1
Day 2: Bastei Bridge
Day 3: Old Town, Krakow
Day 4: Salt Mines and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Day 5: Shindler's Factory and Shrine of Divine Mercy
Day 6: Auschwitz Memorial