Dachau Concentration Camp

The entrance to the the camp read “Arbeut Macht Frie”, or “Work will make you free” but thousands died of disease, malnutrition, overwork and were even murdered and executed for infractions of camp rules.

I entered through the same building that prisoners passed through.

During my stay in Munich, Germany, I did a six hour tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp. I was going to learn about one of the darkest times in human history. Located within the Bavarian countryside , the Dachau Concentration Camp served as the prototype for all subsequent concentration camps and as a “school of violence” for the SS, under whose command it stood. In the twelve years of its existence, over 200,000 persons throughout Europe were imprisoned in the Dachau Concentration Camp and its 149 sub-camps. There were seven guard towers altogether at the camp.

I walked through the Bunker and observed the cells. Some of the cells were divided into smaller “standing cells” where the prisoner could do nothing but stand.

When they arrived, they were told to hand over their belongings and stripped: connection to the outside world was gone. They were given numbers. Prisoners stood motionless on roll call every day in spite of the weather. They were put into different classifications; political, professional, Immigrant, Jehovah Witness, homosexual and asocial. They were even classified based on their genes. Every Jew was given a black triangular; this was a very dangerous classification. Some prisoners were given a red inverted triangle, which meant they were at the top at the hierarchy. They had to be neat. The floor had to immaculately polished or they’d be punished. They also wore hats. If a prisoner didn’t fulfill the expectations of a guard, his hat would be thrown in the neutral zone area (the prisoners called this the “dead zone”). He would then be commanded to fetch it. If he didn’t, he’d get shot because that would seen as being insubordinate. If he obeyed the guard’s command, he’d be shot as that would be seen as trying to escape. They were dehumanized.

They had to count from one to twenty five in perfect German as they were lashed twenty five times, and if they made a mistake, they’d have to start over. They were kept in deplorable conditions, given things to commit suicide and deprived of basic necessities. The prisoners were also subjected to cruel medical experiments. The emaciated slaves were hated because they reminded other prisoners of how close they were to death. I saw a large mass grave and two places of execution. It was incredibly sad.

I was told there was a gas chamber. The feeling was horrifying when I entered the room. It had a low ceiling and was a bit dark. The gas chamber itself had fake shower heads in the ceiling to trick entrants into thinking they were simply about to be disinfected rather than gassed to death. They were supposed to be broken mentally and physically but not killed; however, 41,500 died. Some died from hypothermia because they were given wet blankets. Showers were sometimes scolding hot and freezing cold.

The twenty-two minute documentary film I watched in the Exhibition showed the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime and footage of the camp’s liberation. Inside the crematorium were fumigation cubicles.