Depressing Dachau

Europe is probably regarded as the party/fun continent. Its history thou is marred by bloodshed and inhumane acts, from the time of Napoleon to the more recent World War 2. While my recent trip to Europe was fun-filled, I was brought right back to reality when I visited Dachau Concentration Camp.

Very brief history

Dachau, located just outside Munich, Germany, was the first concentration camp built and opened for “political prisoners” during World War 2. This concentration camp served as a prototype for all other camps around Europe. Dachau, so to say, was the master template for all the other camps.

The Camp

As captives walk thru the main gate at Dachau, the phrase “Arbeit macht frei” greets them. The phrase basically means labour brings you freedom or work sets you free. The captives were made to do various physical labor around the camp if they were to live. The captives were underfed and tortured physically and well it goes without saying, being in a concentration camp was more than enough of a mental torture.

The camp had various sections to it.

         

T    The main building: cells for captives, kitchen, interrogation room. The building is very dimly lit, with hardly any sunlight that comes in. It feels as if it is the living place of the dead, literally a dungeon.

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T   The Cremation chamber: An area where dead bodies were first brought and then cremated. The chamber had some photos of its time and all one could see was mangled bodies thrown in a pit and then carried out into “burners” or “furnaces”.

-         The Gas chamber: Although the gas chamber in this specific concentration camp was never used, it was however tested and declared operational. The captives were lured in to it by advertising these as showers.  

The Feelings

As I walked thru the main building, I had Goosebumps. It felt that as if life had been sucked out of it; A place where nothing “lived”, perhaps evil's residence if it may be called that. I tried to imagine the life that would have been in the camp during WW2, but the very thought scared me and I was standing frozen inside. Yes at that point, life was sucked out of me.

It was said that captives would intentionally run towards the fence so that the guards at the watch tower would shoot them and end their misery. However, the guards only shot them in places such that they won’t die, simply to torture them more and increase their pain. I could not fathom as to how miserable it must have been that the captives would want to end their life happily!

I was very surprised that the organization running the “tourist” part of the concentration camp kept on calling the captives “prisoners”. Yes they were prisoners for Nazis, but they were captives in everyone else’s eyes (hence I call them captives everywhere in my blog)!!

It has taken me 20 odd days to write this blog, as I was coming to terms with my emotions about the camp and the inhumane acts, and I can still not express my feelings fully (still trying to come to terms with what I saw). My heart goes out to everyone who suffered during the WW.


My blog is entitled Random Thoughts, but for once, this is not random........

The Friday Syndrome

If you ever hear yourself say things like “I'm doing some work, and playing online games, and chatting to people, but still feeling bleh”, you have a medical condition, and it is called The Friday Syndrome.

Friday Syndrome has been known to humanity since the concept of a weekend but has become more and more prominent in the last 2 decades. It is very unusual in infants but starts to develop in young kids and is very prominent in working adults. The condition has puzzled doctors and researchers for decades as it can strike anyone, anytime without any prior warning.  This study is aimed at working adults and includes my personal experience.

The symptoms of the syndrome are as follows:

1.) As mentioned above, you say things like “I'm doing some work, and playing online games, and chatting to people, but still feeling bleh”
2.) Common statements from your mouth includes “WOOHOO, Its Friday” OR “Can it not be the weekend already” OR statements similar in nature
3.) You go and update your FB statuses or tweet about the fact that the weekend is almost here or it’s the weekend baaaaby!
4.) As the condition worsens, i.e. excitement/boredom levels reaches infinity, the productivity levels in the office approaches zero.

Prevention of The Friday Syndrome
Due to the syndrome’s unpredictable nature, it is impossible to prevent its occurrence.

A recent survey was carried out amongst infected individuals to ask about their condition and what they think could make them feel better. Common answers included “Party”, “Sleep”, “Drink”, “Relax” and “Go Home”.

Cure of The Friday Syndrome
No cure is known. In fact, individuals infected by the syndrome do not like to be cured. Once infected, the syndrome lives in your body. The syndrome is cyclic in nature. The only way to calm down the virus is to practically perform the common answers from the survey conducted.

The Friday Syndrome often inspires individuals like me to blog.