An extensive museum was created inside the camp maintenance building and I learned about how Adolf Hitler rose to power, the role of the Dachau concentration camp, the treatment of those placed in the camp and many other issues of the time.

Some of the most interesting information was about the role of propaganda and the press. The museum displayed posters and newspaper clippings from the period. I learned that at the beginning of World War II and the Holocaust, the foreign press relied on reports from the local press, controlled by the Nazis, without challenging or investigating it first. But as the war progressed, even with access restrictions to journalists, more of the truth came forth to readers.

Propaganda was found everywhere, even on the camp’s front gate, which read “Arbeit macht Frei.” That means “work sets you free” in German, as the Dachau camp was projected as a work and labor camp, not a death trap. I learned that everyday the writing on the gate taunted those trapped inside the camp.

Ulli, one of my advisers in Salzburg, said that she grew up near a former concentration camp that was hidden in a quarry. When she went to it, she said that it remained in almost the same condition as when it was used. Children’s shoes were left scattered at the end of the crematories. She said that Dachau was cleaned up too much and should better resemble its original condition, as it is necessary to prevent another tragedy from occurring.

I realized one of the unique experiences of traveling after my trip to Munich. No matter what occurs in a place today, it won’t necessarily parallel the place of yesterday. But through historical preservation, we can remember and learn from the past.

On Sunday, my roommate moved in, as students taking classes directly through the university began their semester this week. (I’m taking my classes through the American Institute of Foreign Study, so while they are through the university, I’m in a separate program from other students). Elena, my roommate, is from Moscow. With the time and place relationship on my mind, I wondered if our housing situation would have been possible over 15 years ago, when the Cold War still divided the world.