Notes Home from Oman: Never Again--remembering the past at Dachau

We spent an entire day in the village of Dachau, just outside Munich. Dachau is, of course, infamous for the concentration camp built by the Nazis on the outskirts of the village. Its first purpose was to house inmates who were considered "enemies" of the Nazi state--mostly non-Jews, especially in the beginning. It became the "model" that all other concentration camps were built after. The village itself was charming, but because of the history of the area, it is not that well-visited as a tourist site. However, we really enjoyed our time in the village.

My goal in this post is to communicate visually the starkness of the concentration camp, but it is impossible to visually convey the atrocities committed upon fellow human beings here. Contrast the bleakness of the camp with the picturesque scenery in the village; it is hard to reconcile the two. Yet, still today, the residents of the town still deal with their "legacy", and some find it hard to cope with. The people who looked the other way, or ignored the atrocities, or pretended they weren't happening--these people were their parents and grandparents. This post is not to be "enjoyed" per se, but to be reflective, to not forget, to remember....NEVER AGAIN.

Memorial at front of camp; five languages of "Never Again"

Sculpture erected in front of one of the buildings to memorialize victims of
the camp. The sculpture is representative of people who flung themselves on the
electrified barbed wire fence rather than return into the camp at the end of a work day.
Bodies were left on the fence as they decayed. Survivors chose this particular
representation because it so poignantly depicted the desperate circumstances
of the camp that men would choose this gruesome death to the slow,
daily torture inside the camp, day in and day out.

The Barracks

Road into the camp between the barracks. Inmates were often forced to pick
up dropped, dead, or yellowed leaves that had fallen from the trees as part
of their "clean-up" duties around the camp at the end of a long forced
labor work day. Inmates received a starvation diet and only
4-5 hours of sleep a night. The rest of the
day was filled with chores, demeaning tasks, and forced hard labor.

View through a window in the barracks. Each of the foundation markings outside of the
window represent a former location of a barracks. The original structures have been destroyed.

There are at least 12 rows of barracks along each side of the trees, with hundreds of men housed in each one.
Only men were imprisoned in Dachau according to the camp rolls, except for seven women
who are listed on the rolls, probably serving in forced prostitution for the guards
and "rewards" for inmates who ratted out fellow inmates.

Re-constructed bunk beds inside the barrack. As the war drug on, inmates were
forced to share two men to a space, sleeping head to toe.

The "Bunker"

If you were sent to this building--the "Bunker", you were certain of execution. This building
was reserved for "special" enemies of the Third Reich.

View inside of a cell.

Door to a cell--missing the bars.

Bars on a cell door.

View through a peep-hole on a cell door.

Another wing of the Bunker building, with an additional set of security doors.

The Grounds

Guard Watchtower

Former electrified fence with moat--making it impossible for prisoners to reach
the electrified fence from inside the camp.

View of one of the many churches placed around/inside the camp after the war......

Crematorium

Exterior of building

Gas chambers added in 1942, but never used

Crematorium ovens

Our English-speaking tour guide--an architect in real life--volunteers her
time to give tours. She has spent countless hours on her own to research
the history of this camp. As part of the "punishment" of the German
people, she was forced to stand in the roll call area of the camp for
hours as a child so that the children would learn what it felt like.
This has been done for years, and I felt sorry for her pain. She, too,
is sorry for what her ancestors and countrymen had done here.
She gives tours as a way to help educate others and to give back,
in a way, for the harm that was done long before she was even born.