Dachau Replica

Reflecting on my trip to Germany I thought about one poignant moment, a visit to the Dachau memorial. It is a rebuilt model of the concentration camp. This had a profound effect on me. I really like how this poem came out.

Translations for German words: "Arbeit macht frei"="Work will make you free", "Fraktur"="old german writing style", "Rauchen Verboten!"="No Smoking!", "Schadenfreude"="pleasure from someone's pain", "Untermenschen"="lower man (name used for Jews by the Nazis)"

The grinning maw greets me with iron teeth
And Arbeit macht frei tattooed across its face.
As I walk this man-made hell
I realize, none of this is real, but it is,
A replica of refined horror.

There, on the wall, a faded Fraktur mock-up speaks German,
RAUCHEN VERBOTEN!
Brings the nostalgia of Schadenfreude,
And some courtesy
To a place where tourists now tread.

I walked the procession
Past some twenty or more rectangles.
Only two of the hovels are perfectly aged, deftly worn,
And actually there.
Perhaps there are only two,
Because any more would be...
Too real?

Inside those cages,
I see the "beds" of Jews that do not exist,
The water basin Untermenschen never bathed in;
Lockers that never held that striped mantle
Of despair.

And they snap photos, and shake their heads
As if they understand, basking in the solemnness.
But the moment they step outside,
It's gone.