Dachau

While we are in Germany, we truly want to experience the history of the country, which includes the Nazi's reign during WWII. This weekend, Patrick, Kyle, Caitlin and I took a trip to Dachau concentration camp just outside of Munich. They offer daily, 2.5 hour tours for €3 in several languages - our tour guide was well worth the money. 

Dachau is actually the first concentration camp. The head of the SS/Gestapo, Heinrich Himmler, was from Munich, which is a big reason why he set it up nearby.  It was originally set up to hold Germans who opposed Hitler - political prisoners - but by the end of the war it held over 10x the capacity of the camp and prisoners of all types were living in the barracks shown above. 

To the right is a chart that shows the Nazi's classification system. The different colors indicate different types of prisoners - red for political prisoners, green for criminals, pink for homosexuals, purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, and black for 'asocials' (basically the catch-all for the Nazis to imprison anyone). The bar above the triangle (2nd row) represented repeat offenders, and the two-triangles (4th and 5th rows) were worn by the Jewish prisoners. Probably the most disturbing patch worn by the prisoners was the 3rd row - the black circle was worn over the heart and over several other "kill spots" so the SS had a target to shoot in case the prisoner tried to escape.

We all know a huge piece of the Nazi foundation was built with propaganda. A perfect example - after the public caught wind of what was happening at the concentration camps, one of the senior Nazis tried to portray them as work camps, and added the words on the left to the main gate - Arbeit Macht Frei - or 'work will make you free.' Of course that was not true. No one was ever released from Dachau over the course of the war. 

There was a fabulous exhibit of sketches done by a prisoner whose assignment at Dachau was to make books. He would scribble sketches of what was happening while no one was looking and stick them within the books he was printing. This one portrays how the Nazis punished prisoners who tried to escape. Instead of killing them, them would make them stand in the main square of the camp with signs on them saying "I'm back again" (the name of the sketch). 

Probably the best part of the camp's history is after the American's liberated the camp, they used it to hold the SS and other Nazi offenders while they were awaiting their trials - the tables turned and the guards became the prisoners. Many of the original buildings have since been renovated or torn down, but it is still very easy to visualize the camp during its most disturbing times. There are several wonderful monuments including this one - the inscription says "Den Toten zur Ehr, den Lebenden zur Mahnung" which is translated to "to honor the dead, to warn the living."  This was undoubtedly a very sobering but important experience for us, and we highly recommend a visit to this camp if you are in Munich.