Day 6 - Dachau

The gate house when entering Dachau.

Today I took a tour of Dachau Concentration Camp. This post is hard to write as I am not sure I can give the place the justice it deserves or capture the impact. It is a powerful site to visit and stirs up many feelings of extreme sadness and shocking horror of how people can turn on strangers, ethnic groups, minorities, anyone not fitting in. 

The gate into Dachau contains the
slogan, "Work Will Make You Free".

Munich was the birthplace and hotbed for the Nazi party and Dachau is located about 10 miles northwest of the city. Dachau was the first concentration camp built and was the model for all the other camps. Dachau opened with criminals and thieves. The theory that was sold to the general public is we will 're-educate' these folks so they will become productive citizens. We'll teach them how to work hard like everyone else.

Bunk beds.

Camps were built for different reasons. Concentrations Camps were built for forced labor and this was the main function of Dachau. Dachau was opened on an old ammunition factory. Hitler needed money to win the war and due to the allied embargo, the country was running out of natural resources like coal, ammunition and oil. It wasn’t until the end of the war where the Concentration Camps were turned into Death Camps.

Bathroom.

Heinrich Himmler was the evil Kommandant who was promoted at Dachau and devised the humiliation and torture to control the masses. Hitler was impressed with what he did so he had Himmler set up all the camps. Himmler also devised the methods of mass killings with the gas chambers because he realized having the SS Agents shoot the people individually was too emotionally draining. With gas chambers, the SS could emotionally remove themselves from the responsibility of murder.

"Showers" (AKA Gas Chamber)

This is not a pleasant post, but I recommend everyone should visit a Concentration Camp. It will be an experience you won’t forget. All school children in Germany visit a camp. It is a requirement in the schools as to never repeat the problem.

Ovens to cremate bodies.

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me." 

Martin Niemöller, Dachau survivor