Dachau

     While in Munich we had the opportunity to take a tour of Dachau. It was very powerful, and I would recommend everyone to visit a concentration camp if you ever get the chance. I'll try to give the stories behind the pictures, but I can't guarantee that everything I say will be accurate.

Arbeit macht Frei

 Arbeit macht Frei. In English, "Work makes free". At first, it was a message to prisoners meaning, if you work hard and change your ways, you will be allowed to leave. That was when the concentration camp was for political opponents of Nazi-ism. Later the phrase became a cruel joke implying that the prisoners would be worked to death, which would be their only freedom.

Dachau main grounds.

This is a memorial to those who would throw themselves at the electrified barbed wire fence to kill themselves. Considering they would be killed at some point, it was a way of taking back their freedom.

This is our tour guide Tom. The memorial behind him is a bit controversial. I believe it was put there in the 60's, and does not represent two of the persecuted groups, homosexuals and criminals.

This is a map of concentration camps. I was overwhelmed by the number of them.

Rauchen verboten, or "Smoking Forbidden"

 "Smoking Forbidden". This was one of the first things the prisoners would see after they had given up all of their possessions. It's one of many forms of psychological torture. Of course they can't smoke because they don't have any cigarettes.

These are the symbols prisoners had to wear to show what their offense was.

I'm unsure if prisoners lived in these rooms, or if they were just used for solitary confinement.

Barracks Phase 1

 At first, each person had his own bed with a shelf, another cruel reminder that they had no possessions. There were extremely high standards for cleaning this room, and punishment for everyone if there was a single flaw. As more prisoners came to the camp, the bed situation got worse.

Crowded Barracks

Bathroom

Barrack Phase 3

For some reason I didn't get a picture of phase 2, which was slightly wider beds on which about 5 people would sleep. As you can see in phase 3, there were no longer divisions between beds, just a large row of people side by side.

On each side of the trees, there was a long row of Barracks.

A plot where a Barracks would have been. I think there were two rows of 30.

There are no right angles in this memorial. It defies the uniform grid structure of Dachau.

The crematorium. As the death rate grew, this was no longer enough to cremate the bodies fast enough.

Gas chamber.

This is a gas chamber for killing. It is unknown how many people were killed here. While many people died at Dachau, it was not a death camp. It was a labor camp.

Grave of thousands unknown