There are inescapable remnants of WWII throughout Munich, none more so and infamous than Dachau. It may not be as infamous as Auschwitz (Auschwitz Birkenau), Bergen-Belson, Buchenwald, Sobibor or Warsaw; there were 14 earlier camps, and additional 23 main camps. Dachau was both an early camp, one of the first, which was liberated on 29th April 1945 making it the longest camp in operation.
Visiting Dachau was interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, I think deep down we all have a morbid fascination with death to some greater or lesser degree. Secondly, coming to a place like Dachau, where thousands died or killed in deplorable conditions and gruesome methods, can give reflection to what we are capable of in an unconstrained hyper ideological environment. Thirdly, Dachau is within our near/current history; unlike visiting old to ancient sites (Portugal, Istanbul, Petra to Inca), where places seem less tangible or relatable because times’ “then” were so different. There is little to no personal accounts that can be related to today’s times. For WWII, we have video documentation of soldiers and survivors from all sides; normally if there is, it’s form the victors therefore quite one-sided.
Getting to Dachau from Munich central
Dachau, 19km from my hotel, not worth walking. A 1km walk to Munich Central Station from where there are regular trains to Dachau Train Station; taking between 11 and 23 minutes. I can’t remember the cost, around £15-25. From Dachau Train Station to the camp is a brisk 25 minute 2.7km walk. Well signposted, though not necessary as you can follow the crowds.
History
Pre Dachau the camp, the site used to be a gunpowder and munitions factory. In 1933 Heinrich Himmler was the Chief of Police and looking for a site to house protective-custody prisoners. The factory was no longer operational and Dachau concentration camp opened on 22 March 1933. First prisoners arrived from Stadelheim Prison (in Munich) and the Landsberg fortress (where Hitler was imprisoned and wrote Mein Kampf). Dachau was built to hold 5,000 political prisoners.
By 1935 other non-political prisoners were being sent to Dachau like Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and emigrants. By 1938 the SS expanded the capacity of the camp to 6,000 using prison labour. Following the Germans annexure of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938, more than 11,000 German and Austrian Jews were sent to Dachau.
Commandant Theodor Eicke developed the camp, resulting in Dachau becoming the blueprint for all concentration camps resulting in Eicke became the Chief Inspector for all concentration camps. Dachau was more than just a demeaning murderous prison. It functioned more like an enterprise. Surrounding factories were manned by slave labour to bolster the war economy. This “enterprise” covered around 25 acres; 5 acres for prisoners, the rest consisted of a SS training school, barracks, factories, administrative buildings and other facilities.
Throughout Dachau’s operation it held over 200,000 prisoners, with a minimum of 31,951 deaths (according to administrative records), in addition to another 10,000 who died in its sub-camps of disease, malnutrition and suicide. With extreme unsanitary conditions typus was rampant and killed around 12,500 people. That means a minimum of 7 died at Dachau every day for 12 years (probably closer to 9 or 10 per day). The Nazis had a special hate for the Soviet Union because they were communists. Between 1941-1943, 4,000 Soviet prisoners of war never even made it to the camp. Instead, they were given “special treatment”/ onderbehandlung by the SS. They were taken to a shooting range 2km from the camp…no more need be said.
At first prisoners were classified by their “crime”, latter this would change to which authority had sent them (bullet points are a cut & paste from Wikipedia):
- Red badge – Political prisoners who had been arrested by the Gestapo
- Green badge – “professional” criminals sent by the Criminal Courts wore a green badge,
- Brown badge -Cri-Po prisoners arrested by the criminal police
- Black badge – “work-shy and asocial” people sent by the welfare authorities or the Gestapo
- Violet badge – Jehovah’s Witnessesarrested by the Gestapo
- Pink badge – Homosexuals sent by the criminal courts
- Blue Badge – Emigrants arrested by the Gestapo
- Black outline badge – “race polluters” arrested by the criminal court or Gestapo
- Bar matching the colour of their badge – Second-termers arrested by the Gestapo
- White badge – “idiots” with the label Blöd(Stupid),
- Black triangle – Romani
- Yellow badge, sometimes combined with another colour – Jews, whose incarceration in the Dachau concentration camp dramatically increased after Kristallnacht
Aside from the appalling conditions which caused disease and death. Prisoners were hanged, summarily shot, and had medical experiments conducted on them. Oddly, the gas chambers were never used at Dachau to the extent as in other camps.
My thoughts
Arbeit macht frei meets you at the gate entrance. The words of caste iron built into the top of the black painted gate (the original gate is in the museum at the camp). “Arbeit macht frei” (meaning; '”Work makes free”‘, or “Work makes [one] free”; contextual English translation: “Work shall set you free”). During Dachau’s operation the phrase came to have a different meaning; the only way to achieve freedom would be to work yourself to death, or work until you were killed. My mind couldn’t help wonder how people arriving at the camp must have felt. Crossing the threshold of the gate, this was almost for certain the place where they would die. The cause of death would be limited options: work to death, disease or murdered. Only one question would be uncertain…how long you would be here till you died.
Upon arrival at Dachau, prisoners were stripped naked, all possessions taken away, head shaved. All semblance of your past taken away from you. From here on you were just a number. You officially owned nothing. Now you were owned.
Since Dachau’s liberation on 29 April 1945, the camp continued to be used. Firstly, by the Allied Forces. Then, by the US military as a prison for war criminals till 1948, followed by being a refugee camp. After that, it became a US Military base until 1960. This continue use after the war is why we see Dachau as it is today; I dare say, sanitized, reminding me of my visit to Hiroshima. Not for morbid reasons. I wish the camp had been left near to what it was like on the day of liberation. Like with Hiroshima, horrific pasts which should be used as a shock reminder are now diluted. Hiroshima today has scant scares of that fateful day of 6th August 1945. The same can be said of Dachau.
Walking through Dachau it is quite easy to forget what actually happened here. Clean prison cells, crematorium ovens on display like archaeological objects, don’t transmit the reality of what happened here. Instead, sadly, I think these places have turn into tourist attractions; go to Munich for some beer and whilst there go see Dachau. I’m sure this isn’t the case for all visitors, though I wonder how many try to contemplate what happened here. More so, what leads humans to treat others like they did at Dachau. It still happens today across the globe.
Dachau museum
This is where you can come face to face with real people and their stories. Pictures of prisoners, their personal possessions, who they were and what happened to them. It’s these sorts of personal stories that give a tangibility to what happened here. These are not stories; they are peoples’ lives.
- Noor Inayat Khan (Nora Baker) – One of four women arrested as spies, whilst working in France as part of the British Resistance serving as a Special Operations Executive. Arrested in October 1943 and tortured but did not give out any information. Unfortunately, her notebooks were found. In November she escaped but was recaptured. In September 1944 she was transferred to Dachau with fellow agents: Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment and Elaine Plewman. All four were executed the next day. Shot in the back of neck whilst knelt down on their knees.
- Some prisoners were hung from the rafters of the crematorium facing the ovens. This happened whilst the ovens were being loaded. Undoubtedly with people they knew…maybe even family. What must be going through your mind watching your inevitable destination and the finality of your life.
Hanging Tree
Behind the gas chamber and crematorium is now taken over by nature: thick shrubbery and tall trees. Now a place you would go to to find solace. Past visitors to this now secluded hideaway would not have long to live. Here is where you went for summary execution: shot or hanged. The hanging tree still stands. I did wonder why the tree had not been cut down…then thought, it wasn’t the tree that killed the people.
The gas chamber, designed to look like a shower, though not used for mass killings. Some witness statements say it was used at least twice. Walking through the gas chamber isn’t eery but is uncomfortable if you let your imagination run. Like standing in front of an unused guillotine. The gas chambers, adjacent areas and rooms do get you thinking but not as much as I thought it would. Maybe it’s because the gas chambers were not used like at some of the more infamous concentration camps. However, for me the crematorium and oddly enough the accommodation really got my mind running.
Crematorium
Four ovens in an open barn style construction. Built at different times out of necessity to deal with the increase in “deaths”. Not all four were built at the same time. The additions were due to functional reasons…capacity. On average there was around 10 deaths per day, every day for 12 years! The vast majority of people died during a period of 4 years; 1941 till the end of the war on 8th May 1945. In 1944 alone around 15,000 people died of typhus – that’s 41 people a day. The crematorium was quicker and easier (manned by prisoners). It required less effort than burying – efficiency was the name of the game.
Accommodation
There are three types of accommodation on display. Long gone are the rows upon rows barrack style accommodation (like large prison barracks), only a single ½ row still stands. At Dachau’s inception each prisoner had a bed. Granted, this would have been shoulder to shoulder with the next bed and within a three-level bunkbed. Nonetheless a bed to his/herself. By the time Dachau was at max capacity, each barrack was holding 3-4 times the original capacity. No additional toilets, basins/water (no showers in the barracks – they were allowed to shower once a week in the main building, now museum). Even the toilets, without cubicles made me feel uncomfortable. It’s no wonder diseases were common and ran through the camp like wildfire.
Conclusion
Dachau, sanitised from it’s past can still conjure up the dark past. WW2 was the last war involving many counties stretching across the globe. However, wars have continued throughout the world before WW2 and since then too. I don’t think it’s because we do not learn, I think it’s because we do not want to learn, nor do we care about learning. Wars since may not have been as big, but the appetite for cruelty of man-to-man hasn’t diminished. Wars these days are much to sophisticated for close encounter combat (arguable more humane); the push of a button hundreds of kilometres away can destroy your enemy…no need to see the outcome up close.
