Thank you for this thread. Some years ago I sailed through Dachau on the train, did not stop, and have always wondered what it would have been like. Now, having read your testimony, I know I must go back and see.

I would imagine Auschwitz is a "better" experience. I went to Dachau and, although not a pleasant place at all, there isn't much left there to see, although the "Work Makes You Free" gate is pretty chilling. I found the museums discussed above, far more educational and emotional than Dachau.

I went to Dachau as well, and agree that when visiting a camp, you'll need time afterwards to digest and contemplate. It might be good to schedule something afterward (say, the next day) that's moving in a good way, like an art museum. That way you'll feel the emotion and importance -- which you'll carry with you for the rest of you're life -- but you can get back to vacationing.

You really can't compare Dachau with Auschwitz. It feels odd to even write that in a sentence but the memorial sites (what they are called now) were used for different purposes therefore, have a very different feel.

Dachau began as a place for political prisoners and was pretty much destroyed after liberation. Auschwitz was a death camp and was not as decimated as Dachau. Auschwitz 1 still has most buildings intact and Auschwitz 2 (Birkenau) has many barracks as well as the remains of the crematoriums. Birkenau is huge and there are many signs you will want to take time to read along your walk through the camp.

I have taken many groups to both Dauchau and Auschwitz. While Dauchau is about a 4 hour experience, Auschwitz is all day long. Please allow the entire day to absorb the site. Go early. Take your time going through the country exhibits (housed in the barracks at Auschwitz 1) and other buildings at the main camp. Then take a long quiet walk to Birkenau. You will find some of the former living barracks still up. Take time to walk through them. On one trip, we found artwork on the walls from 60 years before. The second camp leaves no doubt as to what occurred there. While the main camp could pass as a college campus (if you don't look too closely) there is no mistaking the vast, drab setting of Birkenau.
You can then take the shuttle bus back to the first site to pick up the bus or whatever ride got you to Oswiecim.

If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

I have visited Dachau twice, and four hours is enough to visit. For my visit in the future, I plan to allow two or even three days at Auschwitz. It is the largest cemetary in the world without a single tombstone. From my readings, the size and gravity of the sight is unlike any other place on earth.

Please visit this site to get some preliminary information. http://www.remember.org/educate/intro.html

Also see the movie the Grey Zone which depicts the uprising in the camp by the Sonderkommandos.

I visited Auschwitz/Birkenau when I was a senior in high school on the March of the Living (www.motl.org, this a great program for Jewish teenagers; if you have a child who is eligible and can handle it; the trip will change their life) so allow me to chime in.

1) If you have never been to one of the camps before be prepared to have you life changed. Make sure that you prepare yourself as it was a place of much evil and it may very well take you a day or two to readjust. One person I traveled with cried for much of the trip she was so disturbed by what we saw. You will have the opportunity to stand in a real oven and see the true evidence of what happened their. I will spare the public the details.

2) If you can meet up with a survivor of the camps; when I visited it was with multiple survivors and their stories were incredible; they can truly change how you appreciate the area. At the same time if you do encounter survivors be respectful of them as they are visiting what was for them Heck on Earth and are most likely dealing with some of their own demons.

3) The walk between the two camps is about 3kms and is over relatively flat land and quite doable. However if you do decide to walk the distance do keep in mind that you are walking the same route (minus the new highway overpass) that prisoners walked to their deaths.

4) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be respectful of where you and never forget where you are nor that you are walking in history.

When people ask me about visiting the camps and the March of the Living I tell them that it is an experience that I would not wish on my worst enemy but I feel it is so important for people to visit the camps and become witnesses to what happened their that I will take my (currently non-existent) children to camps once they are old enough; their is no doubt in my mind of that.

I hope this helps; feel free to PM me if you have any questions about what I wrote.

GWU

I went to Auschwitz last year and I think you should allow at least a full day. That was enough for me, but everyone is different.
I took the bus from the station in Krakow, and it takes you right to the camp. It was, however, confusing to confirm the schedule and find the right bus--the bus station ticket counter personnel were distinctly unhelpful, and the posted schedules were confusing and inconsistent. There were several other English speakers, and we banded together and found the right one. I took the shuttle between the two camps both ways, so I could spend the extra time at the camps.
I arrived not certain whether or not to hire a private guide; I knew I did not want to see Auschwitz as part of a tour group. I ultimately decided to do the self-guided tour, and I think that was the right decision for me, as I became very emotional a number of times, and wanted some privacy. I also wanted very much to travel at my own pace. But you may feel otherwise. The tour groups I saw were generally respectful, and I did learn a thing or two from listening to snatches of the guides' talks that were not in my written materials or the many things posted, but I still think I made the right choice. (Indeed, virtually everyone there was appropriately respectful, except that late in the day, I encountered two Italian couples at the ruins of the crematorium who were having a fine old time and laughing quite loudly. I have to admit I lost it after 5 minutes and reminded them where they were.) I did find Auschwitz overwhelming, and felt the impact very much the next day, even in London at the ballet.

So true.

I went from Prague to Krakow on the train, looking out the window all of a sudden off in the distance there is the Death Gate of Birkenau. It hit me that these European rail lines have been in place for 100 years, these tracks are the same route so many rode--one way.

There is an early morning direct train from Krakow and a late afternoon no change back. Travel from Krakow on the train seems an appropriate way to visit. You travel in the morning on the same route Krakow residents went--one way. In the afternoon you are so grateful that your trip was not one way--you get to leave on the train. Leaving a place never felt so good.

There are a lot of tour busses, and crowds in the morning, but most start leaving about 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Stay till at least 5 and you will almost have the place to yourself.

Visit the bookstore at Auschwitz 1 first and buy a guidebook with maps, very helpful for self guided tours.

Visit the barracks exhibits at Auschwitz 1. They have rooms with glass walls half full of "collected items". The suitcases are one thing, the mountain of shoes is another, by the time you see the piles of eyeglasses and artificial limbs and realize how many people they represent you will be asking "how can this be real?"

Birkenau is the one that will change you. It was built on bare farm land for one purpose. The SIZE of the place will stagger you. It does not hit you until you stand there. Nothing prepares you for how big it is. Climb up to the top of the Death Gate tower and look at the place. Pictures you have seen of the rail siding selection platform do not convey how long it is and how many cars it could unload at one time. I kept thinking "I know this is real, but HOW CAN THIS BE REAL?"

Everyone on this planet should visit Birkenau.

I spent a week in Poland on a youth group trip in 1986. We visited Majdanek, Treblinka and Auschwitz/Birkenau. I also visited Dachau and Tereisenstadt as an adult. I must say that the visit to Birkenau had to be the most profound experience of my life. My grandmother's 2 sisters survived Birkenau, her brother died there (I don't know the details), and her 3-year-old niece went straight from the train to the gas chamber, so it was very personal to me. I definitely echo what others have posted above, and do not try to cut corners by skimping on the time you spend there.