Dachau Concentration Camp (near Munich). . .

We had a nice dinner in Berlin our last night there. The restaurant was unique, one of many along a strip in what used to be East Berlin. Several different countries were represented along that strip, so we just chose a random one. I ordered a white fish the came in a boiling pot of coconut milk and butter. It was seriously one of the best meals I've eaten. And because it was so good, I of course had to finish it all, which of course made me miserable for the rest of the evening. I slept hard at least.

 

The next morning, we took a cab back to the airport and then took a short flight down to the Munich airport. Rather than drive down into Munich, we opted to visit Dachau Concentration Camp, which is located northwest from Munich. As good as the camp was to see (in addition to Sachsenhausen), I don't really recommend visiting two concentration camps in a two day period. Both were just really, really heavy. There was so much to see, to experience and to process. I felt like I couldn't say much at the end of the day. I felt so full of emotion and yet, so numb.

It was another cold, dreary day, adding to the already dreary atmosphere we were entering. We arrived too late for the guided tour, so we rented the audio guides, which were very informative as well. Below, you can see what remains of the railroad tracks, the same tracks that delivered prisoners basically to the front gate of the camp. At one point, the tracks and road were completely covered in mounds of dirt, but after some excavation, this is what was uncovered.

This is where prisoners entered the camp. . .

These iron gates give me the chills.

ARBEIT MACHT FREI - "Work Makes You Free"

In the twelve years of operation, Dachau Concentration Camp imprisoned over 200,000 people, murdering over 41,500. It was originally set up in 1933 for political prisoners, just a few weeks after Hitler became Reich Chancellor. Anyone who opposed him or seemed to be a threat to him was either murdered or sent to a camp, often never to be seen or heard from again.

Like Sachsenhausen, much of the camp has been destroyed, with only a few original buildings remaining. In 1965, several of the survivors came together to form a committee and from that came the idea to build a memorial to the prisoners.

Below is part of one memorial at the camp, the International Monument, each triangle representing the type of prisoner held at the camp (green = convicted criminal, red = political prisoner, purple triangle = Bible students - usually Jehovah's Witnesses, pink triangle = sexual offenders - usually homosexuals - but not pedophiles or rapists, etc. Jews wore two triangles, one yellow and one either red or blue).

Below is another part of the memorial, representing the emaciated bodies of the prisoners of the camp, the barbed wire (hands and feet of the bodies) around the camp and the fence posts used to support the barbed wire the camp. It's really quite a powerful memorial when you're standing underneath it. The dates 1933-1945 represent the years the camp was in operation.

"NEVER AGAIN" written in five languages. In front of this wall is a box of ashes of the victims of Dachau. These ashes were found in red clay urns in the crematorium when the camp was liberated.

A key explaining the triangles for the prisoners.

Prisoners quarters. . .

Wash basins. . .

Never a moment of privacy. . .

Below are the memorials for the barracks, each one outlines with concrete and inlaid with stones. . .

The trees line the pathway between the barracks. It was absolutely amazing to see how many barracks there were and to imagine how many prisoners walked that path during the years.

Toward the far end of the camp, we listened in horror as the audio guide explained the neutral zone to us. Often times a prisoner would be shoved into the ditch or into the neutral zone, just to be murdered by the guards. Just past where Kevin is standing, there was a small road leading to the crematorium, the most nauseating place in the whole camp.

The Crematorium. . .

If you didn't know what it was, you'd think it was just a nice brick building with a large chimney. Disgustingly, it was so much more than that. This was a building of horror, a horror I've only read about, but can't really even fathom.

Behind the building is a tree-lined pathway. It was quiet and peaceful to walk through the trees, until I found these stones inlaid in the ground. "Ashes were stored here."

The "peaceful" walk. . .

The horror inside the building. . . the ovens used to burn the bodies of prisoners who had died there.

This was the gas chamber, disguised as a "shower room" where the prisoners were told they needed to "get clean" before starting their assignments. Although research says this room was never put to use at Dachau, some people suspect that it was probably used at least experimentally.

The word above the door is "shower-bath"

Once the prisoners disrobed, their clothes were taken to be sterilized so they could be passed on to future prisoners. Most people did not know they were going to be gassed. Sadly, the process was so well disguised that they really assumed they were just going to take a shower and then get to work.

The new crematorium was built after this one became too small to perform the necessary functions.

My mind can't even begin to wrap around the idea that people conceived this in their own minds and then built these ovens, with the very intentional purpose of incinerating bodies. I can't grasp the inhumanity.

From one area, the chimney is quite hidden. . .

Behind the crematorium, ashes had been dumped. After the camp was liberated in 1945, memorials were erected. This one says, "GRAVE OF MANY THOUSANDS UNKNOWN".

"EXECUTION RANGE WITH BLOOD DITCH". This is near a ditch where victims were told to stand or kneel and the Nazis would proceed to murder them and let them fall into the ditch.

"PISTOL RANGE FOR EXECUTION"

This was the first memorial to be put up at Dachau. It was known as the statue of the "Unknown Inmate" and was erected in 1950. The words at the base of the statue translate, "To honor the dead, to admonish the living."

My heart was just aching as we walking slowly away from the crematorium and back towards the entrance. How do you scream at people from so many years ago? How do you mourn for lives lost so long ago? How do you know it and let it change you?

For the second time in two days, we walked away in silence. Overwhelmed. Emotionally exhausted. The rain of the day had chilled me to the bone, but the horror of the camp had chilled me even deeper. It was more than nauseating. Unfathomable. There aren't enough words to attach to this experience. I wish I could convey it better. I'm so thankful we went. I wanted to go. I needed to go. I hope this little post gives you a sense of what it's like so that, like the memorial states, "NEVER AGAIN."