Dachau to Berchtesgaden

The shortest route between heaven and hell is exactly 181km long and less than two hours by car. At one end, Konzentrationslager Dachau, the mother of all Nazi concentration camps and chief training facility for some of the most gruesome atrocities in history. At the other end, the gorgeous heights of Berchtesgaden, where the thugs of the Nazi leadership rested and recuperated in between bouts of worldwide mayhem.

When juxtaposed like this, each place is as ghastly in its way as the other. And you can visit one in the morning and reach the other before nightfall, even in winter. Lockhart and wife made the trip and ended up stuck in a snowstorm at the Intercontinental Hotel, built on the ruins of Hermann Göring’s palatial residence just down from the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle’s Nest. Can’t say we slept all that well–far too many far too hideous ghosts to go with all that grandeur.

Crime might not pay forever, but in this case, it took twelve long years and unimaginable suffering for the check to bounce.

Filed under: Travels Tagged: Germany, Travel