On Monday, July 17, 2023, the students of year nine visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial site in Bavaria.

The site is a place for people to mourn those who suffered, along with being a reminder of the past so nobody forgets the dark period of Germany's history. Although the camp functioned as a prison, not as one of their extermination camps, over one-fifth of the people who had spent time there died.

In 1933, right after Hitler came into power, the camp was built as the first concentration camp in Germany. Hitler sent his political enemies there. Over time, Hitler expanded the use of his prison to criminals, homosexuals, and Jews. The camp was only closed after World War 2 in 1945.

Topics such as concentration camps are tough, but it's vital to stop repeating the past. Many students believed visiting the site was an emotional journey, a feeling that could only be experienced by physically being in the place where it all happened.

Text: Amelia Erler, 9bSISS