Dachau

As much as one prepares to see the depths of human depravity, there was no adequate preparation for the Dachau experience. We spent almost five hours walking the sacred grounds trod by 200,000 over the course of 12 years during the Nazi reign of terror. As one of the American soldiers who was among the first to enter the camp on April 29, 1945 said, there are no words to describe the horror. After entering the gates through which the victims came, we stood on the grounds where twice daily roll call occurred and brutal punishment was meted our at the whim of prison guards.

Train platform where people were unloaded before their
 short walk through the prison gate
An intense movie graphically showed what happened sparing no detail. If our revulsion tank was not full after the movie, it was overflowing by the time we left the memorial. Many of the photos and movies were taken by news reporters who entered the camp with the US Army. Those photos took on new meaning as we stood in the rooms that once had corpses piled to the ceiling awaiting incineration.
Entry gate






We saw the bunker where men were tortured, viewing rooms where they were held. The barracks, built to hold 6,000 where crammed with 35,000 as the war ended, resulting in massive disease outbreaks as well as all the other tragedies associated with such overcrowding.
Parade ground with view to front gate







The incinerator was a series of rooms. On one end corpses were piled. Next to that were the incinerators with beams in front where many prisoners were hanged. Then there was another room for more corpses. On the opposite end was the gas chamber with anterooms for removing clothes.

Incinerator building - incinerators on right end;
gas chamber on left
We learned that no gassing occurred here but preparations were in place. In front of the incinerator building, the prison guards murdered 4,000 Russian POW's. An excellent museum chronicles the rise of Nazism and details the concentration camp system they developed. With pictures and testimonies of camp survivors, visitors get a sickening sense of what happened at Dachau.

Chutes through which poison gas could be put in "showers"
Nazi campaign propaganda which helped bring Hitler to power



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Castles, Castles Everywhere

Image
Heading north on the Rhine from Koblenz, it seems like there is a castle every few miles, located high on the hill carefully watching us slide up the river. We learned most housed the "robber-barons" who exacted a toll from boats using the river. It was a very expensive trip for 12th and 13th century  merchants. Some protested the extortion by atracking the castles and the French really took castle destruction to heart in the late 1700's. Most of the castles were destroyed and rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Moselle (right) meets the Rhine at Kolblenz An exception was the Burg Eltz castle that was actually a family home and is owned today by a 33rd generation family member. We enjoyed  an informative tour of the castle passing miles of farmland and forest to get there. Many of the furnishings were period pieces from the family and the castle contained several original works of art. Burg Eltz Castle On our final day of sailing, we ...
Read more

Rhine - Day 1 Continued

Having some issues with the blog app, but will carry on. In Rudesheim the Lafayette's entertainment director Lea guided us through the packed, narrow streets up to our first stop, Adolf Storzel winery, established in 1647. There Hans put on an over-the-top explanation of the wines to the delight of everyone in the dimly lighted cellar. Hans had clearly entertained many tourists before us. For me the highlight of the day was a fascinating look at the unbelievable music machines at a museum next to the winery. In a house where some of the rooms dated to the 1200's, we experienced music from 100 year old machines that were tecnical marvels even by today's standards. Particularly impressive was the machine that played string instuments. Riding a tour "train" we wound our way through unbelievably sreep vineyards at the top of which we enjoyed the view of Rudesheim and the winding river. More pictures to follow when I can figure out how to add them.
Read more

Salzburg by Day and Night

Image
It was a hard decision but we decided to forego seeing Eagle's Nest in order to spend the day experiencing Salzburg. So for most of the day, after a stroll through the Mirabell gardens, we walked the narrow streets and expansive plazas of the old city. One of the 17th century dwarf statues at Mirabell Gardens Timing is everything and our timing was good this day. It was the first day of some festival and the bands and marchers were out in force. With young boys cracking whips, old soldiers marching and shiny horses pulling colorful carriages, a parade encircled the plaza under the watchful eye of Mozart's statue. Following the Rick Steves Salzburg walking tour, we marveled at the old churches, statues, fountains and plazas. We're talking at least 750 year old stuff. When Columbus reached the Americas, this home was built There was a service at the cathedral (which was packed along with a huge overflow crowd in a tent) so we didn't get to see much there...
Read more