Day 146: Lest we forget...the Dachau Death Camp

We were supposed to be up and out the door early this morning but for some reason, I didn't move as fast as I should have. Perhaps it was where we were going that kept me from moving quicker. Our two hour trip took three hours due to traffic and construction on the Autobahn.

This is very difficult subject matter, so bear with me as I try to find the right words to express what I saw, heard and felt today.

Dachau is located about 15 kilometers Northwest of Munich. I am very glad that we did this tour on an incredibly beautiful day. I don't think I could have done the tour on a cloudy, rainy day. The subject matter was, and is extraordinarily sobering.

After getting our self-guided tour headsets and maps, we sat down to have lunch. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not considering where we were and what we were about to see.

I remember as a child, my father insisted that I watch a television "mini-series" called "The Third Reich". I never forgot the images on that footage and I shall never forget the images I saw today nor the information that I heard and read while I was there.

There are various plaques outside and inside the camp that tell the story of Dachau. Some had photos and others had information and maps. The first three plaques we stopped at before going into the camp explained about the camp and had maps to show where everything was in 1945 when the Allies liberated it. The camp in 1945 was a LOT larger than I expected. The camp came into being in 1933 and was functional for 12 years until it was liberated on April 29, 1945. Dachau was the model that was used for all of the other death camps that the Nazi's built.

The camp was initially built to house 6,000 prisoners and it was labeled as a "re-education and work training camp". The people of the village of Dachau did not know until after the camp was liberated that it was, in actuality, a death camp. Perhaps they were frightened, perhaps they were complacent. Whatever the reason, 12 years went by and no one knew that deaths were common place at this camp?

To get to the main entrance of the camp, you have to go across a short walking bridge called the "Jourhouse Bridge". It is over what they call a river but I would categorize it as a creek or a stream. At the end of the bridge were steel gates and then about 10 feet or so from the gates is the Jourhouse.

It was the entrance to the camp that over 40,000 prisoners walked through so many years ago. Some never left. The prisoners ranged from political dissidents to Jews. The Jews were treated with the utmost contempt. There were also many, many priests from Catholic and Protestant churches as well as those from the Jewish faith. In all, there were people from 37 different nations housed there.



The inscription on the door says: "Work will set you free". The arrogance of putting this inscription on the door to this death camp is mind-boggling!



After passing through the tunnel within the building we emerged onto a vast gravel area. I was awestruck at the size of this area. The voice in my headset said this was the "roll call" area where the prisoners would be herded out to this area, regardless of the weather, twice every day. These prisoners would sometimes have to stand at attention for more than an hour. All of them clothed in their striped pants and shirts. Even those who were sick or dead were brought to the roll call area to be a part of the count. And if a sick prisoner could not stand, he was allowed to fall to the ground and those around him could not assist him for fear retribution from the guards.





The guards were ruthless, unfeeling men who had no regard for life. I stood there in tears for the men and the suffering they endured in this place. As we walked around to the various plaques, what I thought about was how did these monsters get away with such atrocities for as long as they did without anyone finding out and protesting?

Over the years, memorials had been placed around the camp site.

There is one that had flowers placed within the words by people visiting. I thought I had a photo of it but for some reason, it's not in my camera.

And then as we walked down a wide walkway with a fairly considerable grade - I'm not sure what that grade was or why it was there. From a distance we could see a wreath with roses and a banner of red, white and green, placed at the bottom of the grade. And there was this piece of "art work" but I couldn't tell what it was until we were standing right in front of it. We both stopped cold in our tracks. The "art work" we could not make out from a distance was, in fact, a sculpture depicting the prisoners who were hung on poles. I thought I also took a photo of the sculpture but it too, is not in my camera. The sculpture sits on top of this date memorial.



There was another memorial on the wall going up to the roll call area. I'm not sure what that memorial represents and again, the photo I took was missing from my camera.

The next memorial is one that was incredibly sobering. In four different languages, the words: Never Again. appears on the wall opposite from the graded walkway.



We stood there for a few minutes and pondered the thought that we hope and pray that it will not ever happen again.

The next stop on the tour was the barracks. There were two sets of barracks; one on each side of what they call the "Camp Road". The first three barracks were administrative barracks and the housing barracks started at the fourth barracks. Each barrack was 100 meters long (300 feet) by 10 meters wide (30 feet). I believe there were 36 barracks in all. As we walked over to the barracks and listened to the narration, I thought about what life must have been like for these prisoners who didn't become prisoners of war until war broke out in 1939. The camp was opened for six years by then.

What is left of the barracks are the stone foundations that have been filled with gravel to show visitors how large the barracks actually were.



What I didn't know about this camp was that it too was a place where medical experiments were conducted. These were usually done on healthy prisoners.

However, to preserve the memories of the camp, two barracks were re-constructed to show visitors what the barracks looked like and what the interior furnishings were during that time. Below are the photos from those barracks. Take note of the sleeping and bathing arrangements. Every personal item was removed from the prisoner including his identity. But most of all, their dignity as a human being was removed.










As a result of the lost hour on the autobahn and starting out late, we were short on time. I opted to see the museum and the 22 minute movie within the museum because it was due to start in 10 minutes. Ted, on the other hand, went to see the crematoriums. I had not the stomach to see them.

I do wish, however, that I would have been able to see the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish monuments at the end of the Camp Road.



I walked through the museum stopping here and there to read excerpts and take this photo of a cabinet with the clothing the prisoners wore.

5.

The processing center (where the prisoners were stripped of all their personal possessions, given showers and clothing) is now the museum.



At 3:25, I rushed to the auditorium in order to find a spot to watch the 22 minute video about Dachau. I was appalled at the gross, inhumane way these prisoners were treated. Towards the end of the war, there was a coal shortage so the crematoriums could not function to burn the massive number of dead bodies. Farmers with wooden carts led by a team of two horses held mounds of dead bodies. The farmers wore gas masks and buried the dead in mass graves.

Those graves were exhumed by the French in 1955 to 1959. Out of the more than 7,000 bodies exhumed only two hundred have been identified. What I also did not know is that many, many soviet officers who were prisoners of war were given "special treatment" at Dachau. That special treatment consisted of a bullet to the head. What is more disturbing than that is that absolutely NO records were kept of those who were shot. So it is unknown how many Soviet officers died at the hands of the Nazis.

Because of the very nature of this camp, it is extremely difficult to talk about. There are many, many more facts surrounding this camp but this is all I have the heart to put into words.

May God help us to never have this happen again...anywhere in the world...but most particularly in the U.S.A.

After returning our headsets to the information center, we walked quietly to our car; each of us engrossed in our own thoughts.

We decided to drive home and have dinner at Domenic's since Mama Maria's is closed for the next several weeks. We had dinner and discussed what we saw and what we felt.

After dinner we went home and I blogged until it was time to go to bed.

Saturday 08/15/09