Dachau

When you are younger you learn about the World's history. You read your text books, do your homework, take your tests, but you don't fully grasp the weight of the events until you can physically SEE a piece of them. I understood the horrifying details of Nazi Germany, especially the concentration camps. Mass extinction, starvation, killing the human spirit...all of these concepts you read about, but there is no way you could ever imagine them to any real extent. I knew this, but hoped to gain a better understanding on this bit of history by going to Dachau, the first concentration camp.


Dachau is an actual town located about 10 miles outside of Munich. The camp is now a historical site and museum. The majority of the buildings are original, but some, like the prisoner's barracks, are replicas. As is the gate that reads work will set you free. This was the entrance to every concentration camp.

Dachau opened in 1933 and was a men's only work camp. The concentration camps began more as work camps and then evolved into the extermination camps like Auschwitz. When Dachau opened the barracks held 200 people, each having a bed with blankets and a shelf. When liberation came these same buildings held 2000 people, 2000! The living conditions were horrific to put it lightly.

I took a tour in order to learn more about the camp and history and it was well worth it. People always give German companies grief for accepting the slave labor from concentration camps, but the US had their hands in it too. Coca Cola and Fanta used to be the American and European branches of the same company. Fanta would be shipped the Coca Cola syrup until the Americans entered the war. That is when Fanta became what we know today, orange soda. Essentially if the Allies had not won the war it would be Coke owned by Fanta instead of the other way around. There are other American companies in it as well. Nobody had their hands clean.

The entire camp was eeire to walk through. The crematoriums, the gas chambers, the towers, all of it have this air of sadness. It made me sick to my stomach to walk into the "showers" and see the ovens where they fit three humans into a slot big enough for one average sized individual. At the time Catholics where not allowed to be cremated, and in turn the Nazis had the Catholic priests operate the ovens. The Nazis were there to try to break the spirits of the people. They used to mess with the prisoners in horrible ways. They might throw a hat on the grass, which if a prisoner stepped on they risked getting shot, but if they didn't have their hat at roll call they would be tortured as well. There was no easy choice. Also the fence past the death grass was electrified so escape was next to impossible. People did use the fence to kill themselves though. There is a memorial to those who "ran to the fence" which is extremely powerful when you see it in person...

Another memorial I found moving is the proud prisoner. The inscription reads to honor the dead and warn the living. The stance of this statue is the memorial. In line up, which the prisoners had each morning, individuals had to stand with their feet together, head down, no coats or layers, just those infamous stripped pajamas, a hat on their heads, and looking down. This statue encompasses everything they were not allowed to do for so long.

Dachau was the second concentration camp to be liberated. Like most camps, the coal had stopped being shipped so when the allies arrived they found hundred upon hundreds of bodies stacked outside the crematoriums. There are photos of this all over the camp. It's beyond words. Also a lot of soldiers felt so badly for the prisoners that they gave them all their rations, but the rich, diverse food wound up killing them. The prisoners had to gradually be given more and more bland food before they could eat a real meal. The starvation was an obstacle that some never recovered from.

The whole experience was quite emotional and truly beyond a description. It is unbelievable that it happened and continues to happen today. There is a memorial that says never again in six languages, but that is not true. It has happened again and continues to, to this day.

Here is the official website for more information http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html

Also, the wikipedia page is helpful.