A Somber Experience

 

Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Located in southern Germany, Dachau was initially a camp for political prisoners, but it eventually evolved into a death camp where countless thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease and overwork—or were executed.

We didn't know what to expect as we pulled into the parking lot at Dachau.  It was a drizzly, dreary day and that added to the atmosphere as we walked toward the camp.

Peering in through the entrance gate, your whole body felt the weight of what had transpired within these fences.  Very quiet. Very somber.

The walls of the prison barracks were drab and lifeless.  As you walked between the buildings you could feel the tens of thousands of steps that had made their way down these paths.

Entering the buildings, they seemed larger than they did from the outside.  There was a long hallway that ran the length of the building and cells on both sides.

We learned that these cells were for solitary confinement.  Some of the prisoners were kept here for months, never seeing the outside of their cell except for windows very high up.  They called it the "Bunker".

The main acreage of the camp was used for barracks where the masses of prisoners were kept.

Most of these barracks have been torn down and markers left in their place.

However, one is still standing and you can tour inside and see the actual living conditions these poor folks had to endure.

Their washroom.

By this time in our visit, we were numb.  We were horrified at what we had seen.  But the worst was yet to come.  

They were told they were going to take showers.  

You can see the vents where the gas was pumped in.

We have been to Holocaust memorials in Washington DC, Boston and Berlin.  Nothing there compares with the horror of seeing a concentration camp in person.