DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP, Germany

Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich so this was our first stop in the morning on Good Friday after a 10 hour bus ride from Florence to our hostel in Munich.

AN EXTREMELY INTENSE EXPERIENCE

Opened in March 1933, it was the first regular concentration camp established by the coalition government of National Socialist Party and the German Nationalist People's Party. Heinrich Himmler, Chief of Police of Munich, officially described the camp as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners."

EVEN THE WINDOWS OF THE BOOKSTORE
REMINDED ME OF A BARBED WIRE FENCE

Dachau served as a prototype and model for the other Nazi concentration camps that followed. Almost every community in Germany had members taken away to these camps, and as early as 1935 there were jingles warning: "Dear God, make me dumb, that I may not to Dachau come."

ENTERING THE MUSEUM IN BARRACK A

The camp's basic organization: layout as well as building plans, were developed by Kommandant Theodor Eicke and were applied to all later camps. He had a separate secure camp near the command center, which consisted of living quarters, administration, and army camps. Eicke himself became the chief inspector for all concentration camps, responsible for molding the others according to his model.

HORRIBLE LIVING CONDITIONS

In total, over 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 countries were housed in Dachau of whom two-thirds were political prisoners and nearly one-third were Jews. 25,613 prisoners are believed to have died in the camp and almost another 10,000 in its subcamps, primarily from disease, malnutrition and suicide. In early 1945, there was a typhus epidemic in the camp followed by an evacuation, in which large numbers of the weaker prisoners died..

DISGUSTING SHOWER/BATHROOMS

In the last months of the war, the conditions at Dachau became even worse. As Allied forces advanced toward Germany, the Germans began to move prisoners in concentration camps near the front to more centrally located camps. They hoped to prevent the liberation of large numbers of prisoners. Transports from the evacuated camps arrived continuously at Dachau. After days of travel with little or no food or water, the prisoners arrived weak and exhausted, often near death. Typhus epidemics became a serious problem as a result of overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions, insufficient provisions, and the weakened state of the prisoners.

ONE OF THE BARRACK MEMORIALS

In early 1937, the SS, using prisoner labor, initiated construction of a large complex of buildings on the grounds of the original camp. The construction was officially completed in mid-August 1938 and the camp remained essentially unchanged and in operation until 1945. Dachau thus was the longest running concentration camp of the Third Reich. The area in Dachau included other SS facilities beside the concentration camp—a leader school[citation needed] of the economic and civil service, the medical school of the SS, etc. The KZ at that time was called a "protective custody camp," and occupied less than half of the area of the entire complex.

CAMP CONDITIONS

Dachau also served as the central camp for Christian religious prisoners. According to records of the Catholic Church, at least 3,000 preachers, deacons, priests, and bishops were imprisoned there

THE DACHAU CREMATORIUM

The camp was divided into two sections: the camp area and the crematorium. The camp area consisted of 32 barracks, including one for clergy imprisoned for opposing the Nazi regime and one reserved for medical experiments. The courtyard between the prison and the central kitchen was used for the summary execution of prisoners. The camp was surrounded by an electrified barbed-wire gate, a ditch, and a wall with seven guard towers.

MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS AND BODY DISPOSAL

Many medical experiments were conducted on the prisoners of Dachau; including infecting young children so see their exposure and symptom rates, drowning prisoners in freezing water then seeing if it was capable to warm up the core of the body to prevent hypothermia, and several other absolutely disgusting examples that out tour guide explained. Sometimes, for "fun" the guards would hang prisoners from the rafters above the crematorium and make the prisoners who were forced to work there, cut them down an burn their recently dead bodies. If you were the enemy of a guard, it was not surprising to find a loved-one hanging from the ceiling.

Together with the much larger Auschwitz, Dachau has come to symbolize the Nazi concentration camps to many people. Konzentrationslager Dachau holds a significant place in public memory because it was the second camp to be liberated by British or American forces. Therefore, it was one of the first places where these previously unknown Nazi practices were exposed to the Western world through firsthand journalist accounts and through newsreels

A "DEATH ROOM" GAS CHAMBER AT DACHAU

The American troops were so horrified by conditions at the camp that a few killed some of the camp guards after they had surrendered in what is called the Dachau massacre. The number massacred is disputed as some Germans were killed in combat, some were shot while attempting to surrender, and others were killed after their surrender was accepted.

The "[American Army] Investigation of Alleged Mistreatment of German Guards at Dachau" found that about 15 Germans were killed after their surrender had been accepted. Two other reports collated years after the incident put about 550 Germans murdered after their surrender had been accepted.

THE FREEZING RIVER SURROUNDING DACHAU

After liberation, the camp was used by the US Army as an internment camp. It was also the site of the Dachau Trials, a site chosen for its symbolism. In 1948 the Bavarian government established housing for refugees on the site, and this remained for many years. The Kaserne quarters and other buildings used by the guards and trainee guards served as an American military post for many years. It had its own elementary school: Dachau American Elementary School, a part of the Department of Defense dependent school system. Dachau is depicted as the setting for The Twilight Zone episode "Deaths-Head Revisited" in which a former Nazi captain revisits the place he once worked in and the ghosts of the men who died there.

MASS AT THE CONVENT OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS
ON SITE AT DACHAU

"WORK WILL SET YOU FREE"
The motto was quickly changed amongst the prisoners to
"work until you die, death will set you free."

NAZI PROPOGANDA

EXAMINING THE CONCENTRATION CAMP LOCATIONS ACROSS EUROPE

Between 1945 and 1948 when the camp was handed over to the Bavarian authorities, many accused war criminals and members of the SS were imprisoned at the camp.

WANDERING AROUND THE MUSEUM HALLS

Owing to the severe refugee crisis mainly caused by the expulsions of ethnic Germans, the camp was from late 1948 used to house 2000 Germans from Czechoslovakia (mainly from the Sudetenland). This settlement was called Dachau-East, and remained until the mid 1960s.
During this time, former prisoners banded together to erect a memorial on the site of the camp, finding it unbelievable that there were still people (refugees) living in the former camp.

SHOWER HALL/TORTURE CHAMBER

The display, which was reworked in 2003, takes the visitor through the path of new arrivals to the camp. Special presentations of some of the notable prisoners are also provided. Two of the barracks have been rebuilt and one shows a cross-section of the entire history of the camp, since the original barracks had to be torn down due to their poor condition when the memorial was built. The other 32 barracks are indicated by concrete foundations.
The memorial includes four chapels for the various religions represented among the prisoners.The local government resisted designating the complete site a memorial. The former SS barracks adjacent to the camp are now occupied by the Bavarian Bereitschaftspolizei, the Rapid Response Police Unit, which our guide told us is still today rumored to support the Nazi ideals and underground regime.

TORTURE TOOLS

Used to beat the prisoners after their shoulders had been dislocated from forcing them to hang with their hands tied behind their backs from the rafters.

RECOGNIZING THE HORROR OF DACHAU

Though most Nazi concentration and extermination camps were destroyed after the war, some were made into permanent memorials. In Communist Poland, some camps such as Majdanek, Jaworzno, Potulice and Zgoda were used to hold German Prisoners of War, suspected Nazis and collaborators, anti-Communists and other political prisoners, as well as civilian members of the German and Ukrainian ethnic minorities. In East Germany concentration and extermination camps were used for similar purposes. Dachau concentration camp was used as a prison for arrested Nazis and after that as cheap working-class housing.