This report contains photos from Dachau in use, if you are easily offended, please hit ‘back’ now. I’m not using these images gratuitously: they form part of the story of the site. I have included these sparsely, and only in relation to the buildings on the site.
Dachau remains in most peoples minds more than any other concentration camp (excluding Auswitz) as it was one of the first to be liberated, and received mass media coverage at the time.
It was the first concentration camp built for purpose as we know it too, which was to serve as a precedent for future camps. It opened just 51 days after Hitler took power:
Visited solo, although by pure co-incidence I went the exact same day as Priority 7, so expect a report from him soon (he very kindly agreed to let me put mine up first) and he will no doubt be able to share a deeper slice of history than me!
Roll call square: (I’ve ghosted on a photograph taken in the same spot on Photoshop)
The famous entrance gate. Translated as “Work will liberate”
This is a room in the gatehouse, which is off limits to visitors. I have later researched to find this is Room #5. And would have been the office for the ‘Report Leader. Who would have been the superior of the gate house, and in charge of the roll calls in the main square.
Here is the main square during use:
Roll Call at Dachau. If the head count didn’t add up, the prisoners would have to wait, often is stress positions, often in bad weather until everyone was accounted for. This would often involve dragging out the recent dead to be counted too.
The square as it stands today:
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. Many died on their way to, or between camps, or in satellite camps, or after liberation due to the atrocities they suffered whilst detained.
The majority of the prisoners would be held in 32 blocks of dormitories:
All of the following were taken in the front block of the above photograph.
Washing / drinking fountain:
Toilet blocks:
The number of people who died at Dachau is misleading, as a large number died during transit.
American troops opening up a train at Dachau to find starved bodies:
Remains of the platform & track today:
Although, never used specifically an ’extermination camp’ like Auscwitz, deaths in the camp were from poor sanitation, deprivation of medical care, withholding of nutrients, medical experiments, or beatings and shootings for infractions of the rules or at random
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. These were actual cells as opposed to bunked dorms, and today stand derelict
Medical testing rooms:
A lot of these cells would have been divided up into ‘standing cells’ which measured just 70x70cm.
The corridor down the centre of ‘the bunker’ building is epic. It runs for miles. There are 152 doors.
In the shower block: A bullwhip, and a whipping table are still present. One of the most humiliating facts is that the prisoners would have had to have made these themselves.
The camp was surrounded by an electrified barbed-wire gate, a ditch, and a wall with seven guard towers:
Perhaps the most chilling part of the site is the crematorium, which was built just outside of the perimeter fence.
Storage room for the dead.
The crematorium itself. A large number of prisoners were hung to death from the beams right in front of the kiln. It was extremely efficient not to have to transport the bodies.
This photograph was taken from a similar position in this room 70 years ago:
There were so many bodies to deal with at Dachau (averaging 200 - 300 deaths a day just through malnutrition) that this was actually the second crematorium to be built on site. I managed to find the original smaller kiln:
There was a gas chamber at Dachau, although it was not extensively used, it served as a precedent for future camps. In order to coral the prisoners in calmly, and in groups of over 100 they were duped into thinking it was a shower. They would be told to strip, and there would be towels hung on the wall, they would then be led into through this door. Translated “Shower”
Into this room. The doors would be locked and sealed tight either side, before the room would be filled with Zyklon B gas.
A short walk into the woods slowly reveals more horrors at every clearing.
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 number massacred is disputed as some Germans were killed in combat, some were shot while attempting to surrender, and others were killed after their surrender was accepted. For more info, just wiki “Dachau Massacre”
American troops also 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. What shocked me whilst leaving the camp was the proximity of the current neighbours. A modern housing estate has been built since the war, with gardens backing straight onto the camp & guard towers.
Liberation Day.
Thanks for reading. It was a tough one. I know I’ve been moved before from visiting Pripyat, but this was completely different as Chernobyl was an accident, what happened here was cold hearted, just un human.
It’s easy to not visit, to forget about it. But in an uncertain world where atrocities still happen it’s important to look back on sites like Dachau and to learn from it.
Dachau remains in most peoples minds more than any other concentration camp (excluding Auswitz) as it was one of the first to be liberated, and received mass media coverage at the time.
It was the first concentration camp built for purpose as we know it too, which was to serve as a precedent for future camps. It opened just 51 days after Hitler took power:
Visited solo, although by pure co-incidence I went the exact same day as Priority 7, so expect a report from him soon (he very kindly agreed to let me put mine up first) and he will no doubt be able to share a deeper slice of history than me!
Roll call square: (I’ve ghosted on a photograph taken in the same spot on Photoshop)
The famous entrance gate. Translated as “Work will liberate”
This is a room in the gatehouse, which is off limits to visitors. I have later researched to find this is Room #5. And would have been the office for the ‘Report Leader. Who would have been the superior of the gate house, and in charge of the roll calls in the main square.
Here is the main square during use:
Roll Call at Dachau. If the head count didn’t add up, the prisoners would have to wait, often is stress positions, often in bad weather until everyone was accounted for. This would often involve dragging out the recent dead to be counted too.
The square as it stands today:
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. Many died on their way to, or between camps, or in satellite camps, or after liberation due to the atrocities they suffered whilst detained.
The majority of the prisoners would be held in 32 blocks of dormitories:
All of the following were taken in the front block of the above photograph.
Washing / drinking fountain:
Toilet blocks:
The number of people who died at Dachau is misleading, as a large number died during transit.
American troops opening up a train at Dachau to find starved bodies:
Remains of the platform & track today:
Although, never used specifically an ’extermination camp’ like Auscwitz, deaths in the camp were from poor sanitation, deprivation of medical care, withholding of nutrients, medical experiments, or beatings and shootings for infractions of the rules or at random
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. These were actual cells as opposed to bunked dorms, and today stand derelict
Medical testing rooms:
A lot of these cells would have been divided up into ‘standing cells’ which measured just 70x70cm.
The corridor down the centre of ‘the bunker’ building is epic. It runs for miles. There are 152 doors.
In the shower block: A bullwhip, and a whipping table are still present. One of the most humiliating facts is that the prisoners would have had to have made these themselves.
The camp was surrounded by an electrified barbed-wire gate, a ditch, and a wall with seven guard towers:
Perhaps the most chilling part of the site is the crematorium, which was built just outside of the perimeter fence.
Storage room for the dead.
The crematorium itself. A large number of prisoners were hung to death from the beams right in front of the kiln. It was extremely efficient not to have to transport the bodies.
This photograph was taken from a similar position in this room 70 years ago:
There were so many bodies to deal with at Dachau (averaging 200 - 300 deaths a day just through malnutrition) that this was actually the second crematorium to be built on site. I managed to find the original smaller kiln:
There was a gas chamber at Dachau, although it was not extensively used, it served as a precedent for future camps. In order to coral the prisoners in calmly, and in groups of over 100 they were duped into thinking it was a shower. They would be told to strip, and there would be towels hung on the wall, they would then be led into through this door. Translated “Shower”
Into this room. The doors would be locked and sealed tight either side, before the room would be filled with Zyklon B gas.
A short walk into the woods slowly reveals more horrors at every clearing.
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 number massacred is disputed as some Germans were killed in combat, some were shot while attempting to surrender, and others were killed after their surrender was accepted. For more info, just wiki “Dachau Massacre”
American troops also 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. What shocked me whilst leaving the camp was the proximity of the current neighbours. A modern housing estate has been built since the war, with gardens backing straight onto the camp & guard towers.
Liberation Day.
Thanks for reading. It was a tough one. I know I’ve been moved before from visiting Pripyat, but this was completely different as Chernobyl was an accident, what happened here was cold hearted, just un human.
It’s easy to not visit, to forget about it. But in an uncertain world where atrocities still happen it’s important to look back on sites like Dachau and to learn from it.
