Dachau

I vividly remember the first time I became aware of the holocaust. My mom and I were moving furniture in the basement, I was probably around 15 or 16. The TV was on and there was some documentary about Hitler. I remember feeling glued to the TV. I also remember asking my mom that day "Is this true? Did this really happen?" Ever since that day I have been fascinated (fascinated may not be the best word) with Hitler and his treatment of the Jews. When I decided to go to Europe 10 years ago visiting a concentration camp was a must on my list of things to do. It was one of the highlights of my trip then and was also one of the highlights of my trip again this time. I strongly believe this is a must see for all people, what a great way to teach history, by experiencing it first hand. It is a spiritual experience to stand on the ground that real people of the holocaust stood. Look in the rooms that real men and women lived and try just for a moment to imagine how life was for them.

When we first got to Dachau we went straight to the movie, Miranda was kindly asked to leave because children under the age of 6 were not allowed in the theatre. At first I thought they were being a little unreasonable, but as I watched and thought a little more, I wouldn't of let my 6 year old watch the movie. I saw images of death, starvation, torture, and despair, they will always be etched in my mind. I will never forget my experiences at Dachau, I will never forget the way I felt there, and most importantly I will never forget the victims of Hitler, who lost their lives.

" Work shall set you free"

A short history of Dachau...

Established in March 1933, the Dachau concentration camp was the first regular concentration camp. During the first year, the camp held about 4,800 prisoners. In 1942, the crematorium area was constructed next to the main camp. It included the old crematorium and the new crematorium with a gas chamber. There is no credible evidence that the gas chamber in Barrack X was used to murder human beings. Dachau prisoners were used as forced laborers. At first, they were employed in the operation of the camp, in various construction projects, and in small handicraft industries established in the camp. Prisoners built roads, worked in gravel pits, and drained marshes. During the war, forced labor utilizing concentration camp prisoners became increasingly important to German armaments production. In Dachau, as in other Nazi camps, German physicians performed medical experiments on prisoners, including high-altitude experiments using a decompression chamber, malaria and tuberculosis experiments, hypothermia experiments, and experiments testing new medications. Prisoners were also forced to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding. Hundreds of prisoners died or were permanently disabled as a result of these experiments. On April 26, 1945, as American forces approached, there were 67,665 registered prisoners in Dachau and its subcamps; more than half of this number were in the main camp. Of these, 43,350 were categorized as political prisoners, while 22,100 were Jews, with the remainder falling into various other categories. The number of prisoners incarcerated in Dachau between 1933 and 1945 exceeded 188,000. The number of prisoners who died in the camp and the subcamps between January 1940 and May 1945 was at least 28,000, to which must be added those who perished there between 1933 and the end of 1939, as well as an uncounted number of unregistered prisoners. It is unlikely that the total number of victims who died in Dachau will ever be known.

I think this is a very very G rated history of Dachau, many horrific thing went on inside the walls of all concentration camps including Dachau.

"To honor the dead and warn the living"