Sunday, April 6, 2008

Dachau

"Dachau - the significance of this name will never be erased from German history. It stands for all concentration camps which the Nazis established in their territory."

Such were the words inscribled on a panel at the bus stop leading to the concentration camp the moment I alighted from the bus.

From Nürnberg I went to München (Munich) and established my base for the next few days there during which I would go out for day trips and return. Dachau, not pronounced at "Da-chau" but rather "Da-how", was one first such trip. About 20km northwest of München lies Dachau. And it was at this town where the beginnings of the concentration camp model first began as early as 1933.

This camp was initially used as the purpose for a concentration camp for political prisoners, right after the Nazis formed the government in Germany and began to think of ways to expel all their political opponents.

The entrance to the camp

Arbeit macht frei - Works brings you freedom

Arbeit macht frei - Behind the metal gates, the word "frei" does not exist however.

The original term came from a German nationalist in 1872 and was popularised by the Nazis during the early 20th century. The phase was placed at a number of Nazi concentration camps as a form of declaration that self-sacrifice (in the case of the prisoners) did bring about some kind of spiritual freedom. Of course this is definitely not true, since the prisoners there were meant to work to death, unless one would consider death as a form of freedom.

The camp museum

Inside the main building where it used to consist of much of the adminstrative offices as well as the prisoners' eating and laundry area is today a museum tracing the roots of Nazism from the period where Germany lost the WW1 and the Kaiser abdicated to the formation of the Dachau concentration camp right till the period after WW2. The museum entrance is free, but not recommended for kids below 12 because of some of the content in the form of torture and horror pictures may be too hard for them to swallow.

I happened to see some German military officials here as well. I think its good and important for them to know their country's dark past.

Top: An explaination of how one of such corporal punishment were carried out, and below: the instrument used.

The metal rungs used to hang the prisoners and whip them. Today the bars are being dismantled but you can still see the drilled holes.

Perimeter fencing of the camp. Before the fencing you could see a "trench like" path dug around the perimeter. This was the prohibited zone. If the prisoner enters this zone, the guard at the watchtower would shoot him. According to the display, it stated that some of the prisoners went into the zone on purpose of being shot to end their misery.
Sleeping Beds for the prisoners. It was reported that by 1937 and 1938 when the numbers of prisoners grew exponentially, the number of beds were insufficient to such an extent that it was common to see 5-6 workers stuffed into such a space.

The Camp road, on which on both sides the prisoner barracks are built. Today they are all demolished.
The Crematorium Area
At the corner of the camp lies the Crematorium Area. This area is notorious for its place as an execution area.

There are two buildings. The above one is the "new crematorium".

The process of systematic killing

The chamers were first used to disinfect the clothing with prussic acid poison gas. Such took place in the disinfection room above. The victims were told to remove their clothes and that they were going to take a shower.

Then the victims were brought into this room disguised as a shower room. The ceiling was installed with fake water shower sprouts to make the whole thing look real. At the side of the room, where the square tiles are, are where the flaps where the poison gas pellets were inserted from outside.

Incinerator Room - where each of the four furnaces could cremate two to three corpses at once.

Another form of execution would be hanging, as you see from the hooks below. The victims are hung directly above furnance. So that they can conveniently be cremated after that.


Pistol shooting range

Although Dachau concentration camp was not a concentration camp with the purpose of mass and systematic killings like Auschwitz in Krakow, Poland, this camp is significant because it was the first concentration camp and most of the other concentration camps which the Nazis opened after that was largely based on Dachau camp model.

http://picasaweb.google.com/vintagebin/19MarDachau

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