# Dachau - Dec 2011 Image Intensive and Graphic



## Priority 7 (Dec 7, 2011)

Dachau the Blueprint







On a fittingly somber day I took a day to visit and understand the harrowing and indeed chilling story of Dachau. While it is impossible to completely grasp the brutality and atrocities committed here I did manage to gain just a little of an idea of how those interned there existed. I would have said lived and survived there, but the simple truth is so many didnt survive Dachau and no one interned there lived, they barely existed, and indeed those that were lucky enough to survive Dachau must have shown extreme levels of determination to outlast the camp.

Dachau was the prototype and the blueprint for all other concentration camps that the Nazis constructed. It is highly likely that every city, town and village in Germany had inhabitants shipped off to these death camps. Newspapers were constantly reporting on the forced relocation of the enemies of the Reich to concentration camps. As early as 1935 there were "jingles" warning: "Lieber Gott, mach mich dumm, damit ich nicht nach Dachau kumm" - Tanslated: "Dear God, make me dumb, that I may not to Dachau come"

Kommandant Theodor Eicke was the principle architect for the camp's basic organization and layout. These building plans were applied to all later camps. He had a separate secure camp near the command center, which consisted of living quarters, administration, and army camps. Eicke himself became the chief inspector for all concentration camps, responsible for ensuring all the others adhered to his model.

The entrance gate to this concentration camp carries the words "Arbeit macht frei", meaning "work will liberate". One of many slogans used by the concentration camps.

The camp was in use from 1933 (Construstion started around Christmas) to 1960 (When the US handed the camp back to the Bavarian Authorities)with the first twelve years as an internment center of the Third Reich. From 1933 to 1938 the prisoners were mainly German nationals detained for political reasons. Subsequently the camp was used for prisoners of all sorts from every nation occupied by the forces of the Third Reich.
The irony coming in the period from 1945 through 1948 when the camp was used as a prison for SS officers awaiting trial, some of which would have most certainly been responsible for some aspect of the running of such camps. 
After 1948 the camp served as a refugee camp for German nationals expelled from Czechoslovakia while also serving as a base for the US forces. In 1960 after constant pressure from ex-prisoners, part of the site was turned into a permanent memorial to both the surviviors of the camp and more so those who lost their lives in the camp, there are also various memorials constructed there.






No one will every truly know how many were interned there or lost their lives in Dachau however despite some variation the general consensus puts the number somewhere around 200,000 drawn from more than 30 countries. This number could be divided into roughly two-thirds who were political prisoners and with Jews making up most of the remaining occupants. Around 25,613 prisoners are believed to have died in the camp and almost another 10,000 in its subcamps,with disease, malnutrition and suicide being the noted as the main causes of death. In early 1945, there was a typhus epidemic in the camp due to influx from other camps causing overcrowding. This was followed by a brutal forced march into the alps of roughly 7000 prisoners by the SS in an attempt to cover up some of the attrocities the camp was responsible for, with large numbers of the weaker prisoners dying. Sadly liberation for the camp did not prevent many weaker prisoners who were barely clinging to life dying despite the best efforts of the liberating forces.

Over its twelve years as a concentration camp, the Dachau administration recorded the intake of 206,206 prisoners and 31,951 deaths. Crematoria were constructed to dispose of the deceased. These numbers do not tell the entire story, however. Although there is no evidence of mass murder within the camp — by methods other than poor sanitation, deprivation of medical care, withholding of nutrients, medical experiments, or beatings and shootings for infractions of the rules or at random — beginning in 1942 more than 3166 prisoners in weakened condition were transported to Hartheim Castle near Linz and there were executed by poison gas for reason of their unfitness. In 1941 and 1942 an unknown number of prisoners of war from the Soviet Union were executed by shooting at the camp's surrounding firing ranges, some for target practice and for sport.


The camp was divided into two sections: the camp area and the crematorium. The camp area consisted of 69 barracks, including one for clergy imprisoned for opposing the Nazi regime and one reserved for medical experiments. The courtyard between the prison and the central kitchen was used for the summary execution of prisoners. The camp was surrounded by an eight meter wide dead zone which consisted of a ditch barbed wire and finally an electrified barbed-wire fence with seven guard towers which were manned 24 hours a day by the camps guards who were instructed to shoot anyone stepping foot onto the dead zome.






In early 1937, the SS, using prisoner labor, initiated construction of a large complex of buildings on the grounds of the original camp. The construction was officially completed in mid-August 1938 and the camp remained essentially unchanged and in operation until 1945. Dachau thus was the longest running concentration camp of the Third Reich.






The area in Dachau included other SS facilities beside the concentration camp—a leader school[citation needed] of the economic and civil service, the medical school[citation needed] of the SS, etc. The KZ at that time was called a "protective custody camp,"[citation needed] and occupied less than half of the area of the entire complex.

By the time the camp was liberated the death rate had peaked at 200 per day. However even after liberation the daily death toll could only be reduced to between 50 and 80 deaths per day, this was despite the best efforts of the Allied forces medical teams.

Late in the afternoon of 29 April 1945, KZ Dachau was surrendered to the American Army by SS-Untersturmführer Heinrich Wicker. Below is a vivid description of the surrender as it appears in Brig. Gen. Henning Linden's official report on surrender of Dachau Concentration Camp.



> "As we moved down along the west side of the concentration camp and approached the southwest corner, three people approached down the road under a flag of truce. We met these people about 75 yards north of the southwest entrance to the camp. These three people were a Swiss Red Cross representative and two SS troopers who said they were the camp commander and assistant camp commander and that they had come into the camp on the night of the 28th to take over from the regular camp personnel for the purpose of turning the camp over to the advancing Americans. The Swiss Red Cross representative acted as interpreter and stated that there were about 100 SS guards in the camp who had their arms stacked except for the people in the tower. He said he had given instructions that there would be no shots fired and it would take about 50 men to relieve the guards, as there were 42,000 half-crazed prisoners of war in the camp, many of them typhus infected. He asked if I were an officer of the American army, to which I replied, "Yes, I am Assistant Division Commander of the 42nd Division and will accept the surrender of the camp in the name of the Rainbow Division for the American army."



The Americans found approximately 32,000 prisoners, crammed 1,600 to each of 20 barracks, which had been designed to house 250 people each.

The American troops were so horrified by conditions at the camp that a few killed some of the camp guards after they had surrendered in what is called the Dachau massacre.The exactn umber massacred is still disputed as some Germans were killed in combat, some were shot while attempting to surrender, and others were killed after their surrender was accepted.

Many guards were also killed by the liberated prisoners, which made the issue more complex and some SS guards even attempted to disguise themselves as prisoners or indeed play dead in a futile attempt to escape capture.

American troops forced local citizens to the camp to see for themselves the conditions there and to help clean the facilities. Many local residents were shocked about the experience and claimed no knowledge of the activities at the camp.

After liberation, the camp was used by the US Army as an internment camp. It was also the site of the Dachau Trials, a site chosen for its symbolism. In 1948 the Bavarian government established housing for refugees on the site, and this remained for many years.

The former SS barracks adjacent to the camp are now occupied by the Bavarian Bereitschaftspolizei (rapid response police unit).

Sorry for the long intro to this report and I realise the site isn't strictly a derelict place, however it is a site of great significance and hopefully after reading about it you will understand why I felt the report needed to be of such a length.

"We must never forget" to quote one of the memorial inscriptions on site.


The remains of the Camp Train Platform






The first thing the liberating US forces encountered was the Train Platform and a recently arrived train, carrying some 4800 "prisoners"






Only 800 were alive.

The Entrance to Dacau that all prisoners passed through on arrival at the camp






The door reads "Work Makes You Free"






The Fenceline and Towers 






The Towers would have been the other side of the fence to make them inaccessible to anyone crossing fromt the dead zone.






The Crematoria 

Old 











New











The Gas Chamber in the New Crematoria Disguised as a Shower, although it is believed it was never put into full use. The Nazi's claimed the US forced the camp occupants to build this after they liberated the camp, a blatant lie.






The Gas Canister Administration Drops






The Various Execution Areas Around the Crematoria

Rifle Execution Range With Blood Ditch






Pistol Execution Range






The Crematoria Ash Storage Area






The Huts




































The Bunker and Admin Block
















The Execution Wall at the Bunker in the left hand corner there also stood a gallows, although most who were to be hung would have been hung infront of the Crematoria "ovens".






While we were in the Bunker we commented on the fact it was warmer outside in the windy conditions. There were 3 cells that were divided into 4 smaller units as standing cells. They were so small you had to stand there was no way to sit or lie down.

The Various Memorials now built on Site

The Church of Reconciliation






The Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel






Jewish Memorial






The Unknown Prisoner






The Jewish Memorial at the Crematoria






The Unknown Prisoners






The Russian Orthodox Church Memorial Constructed by Russian troops in 1990.






I would strongly recommend a visit if you are in the Munich area and thanks for looking.


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## UrbanX (Dec 7, 2011)

Wow, what a report. Fantastic we both saw different things too! proper good report! 
Can't believe we missed each other here, but great to catch up in the beer hall, just checking out the oompah videos now!


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## nelly (Dec 7, 2011)

Brilliant photos mate and a really well written report


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## Priority 7 (Dec 7, 2011)

Thanks Nelly have to say until you have been there and listened to the excellent audio commentary devices they have there it is impossible to understand how "life" must have been there. I felt a serious and detailed report was the least I could do.
To give a small glimpse into the way the camp was run:

The bunks had to made up in a particular way by order of the SS

The circular straw matresses had to be rolled out and on each level of bunks the matresses had to be level the striped sheets had to be laid so the stripes were parallel with the edge of the bunk, all folds and corners had to be uniform and match all the others on that level of the bunks.


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## Faing (Dec 7, 2011)

That place invokes horror filled thoghts in me, an evil place.Well capturd though.


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## Foxylady (Dec 7, 2011)

Absolutely superb write-up and photos, P7. Very sobering and such a stark reminder.
Thanks for posting.


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## Lightbuoy (Dec 7, 2011)

Very, very powerful & moving.

Think that it's vital that such places, whilst stomach wrenchingly awful, should remain so that future Generations will never forget (and so the truth won't be so easy to hide or erase)

Thanks for posting.


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## night crawler (Dec 7, 2011)

Great report which brings home some of the horrors of the place that I can only hope will not happen again.


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## 0xygen (Dec 7, 2011)

Another excellent report of this place! Really interesting for me to see a report on Dachau as I've wanted to visit for some time now.

Great job,

-0xy


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## oldscrote (Dec 8, 2011)

A brilliant report.For us that wander happily round the beautiful British countryside recording WW2 defence relics it really brings home what we were defending against during those dark times.....thank you for reminding us of the horrors of Nazism.


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## TeeJF (Dec 8, 2011)

is the polace still bereft of birdsong like they say in the books?


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## alex76 (Dec 8, 2011)

nicely done p7 love it


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## Priority 7 (Dec 8, 2011)

TeeJF said:


> is the polace still bereft of birdsong like they say in the books?



It is indeed bud no birds we saw a single squirrel no other wildlife or indeed wildlife sounds at all


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## smiler (Dec 8, 2011)

The frightening efficiency of the Holocaust is mind numbing, well put together report and pics. Thanks


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## tank2020 (Dec 8, 2011)

These places must be preserved forever, we should never be allowed to forget what man can do to each other. Cheers P7


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## Pincheck (Dec 9, 2011)

One of the saddest points in human history , well done.


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