Dachau Concentration Camp
Dachau was the first concentration camp of the Nazi regime. It is also known as the worst concentration camp since all new Nazi guards were first sent to Dachau for training. Here, they learned how to punish and kill prisoners. Dachau had over 200,000 prisoners during WWII. We do not know the exact number nor the number killed. How many unknowns were there?
It is impossible to fully understand the agony and hardships that victims of the Holocaust faced, but we must never forget the dangers of homophobic, white supremacist ideals to make sure this never happens again.
As prisoners walked into the camp, they saw the words "Arbeit Macht Fret" on the front gate. In English, this translates to "Work Will Set You Free." Dachau was a labor camp and each prisoner was expected to work for long hours every day.
When prisoners walked through this gate, they lost their property, their civil rights, and their human dignity. They were turned into a number which was always visible either on their arm or shirt sleeve. Their names were irrelevant and forgotten.
Imagine hundreds of thousands of prisoners lined up on these grounds. Roll call occurred twice per day: in the mornings at 5:15 and in the evenings at 7:00. The prisoners could not move until roll call was completely finished. If they moved, they would be punished. A common punishment was the whipping block. The prisoner would be whipped numerous times; the prisoner's screams were widely heard and put a fear into all other prisoners. The delinquent would have to count the slaps along out loud. The numbers were blurted out in terrible pain, so the tortured person would often slur or misspeak. If this happened, the prisoner would then have to begin all over again, so that he was hit many more times than initially ordered.
Roll call always lasted at least one hour. The longest one ever occurred in February of 1943 and lasted 14 hours. It was cold, the prisoners had no shoes, light clothing, and empty stomachs. Only the strongest survived.
Whenever a prisoner stepped foot on the grass (or snow) area, they would be shot from a guard in one of the seven watch tours outlining the camp. In this image, you can faintly see one of the watch tours. After this grass/snow area, there was a trench filled with water followed by a fence for more security.
In its entire 12 years as a camp, no prisoner was able to escape from Dachau.
It wasn't just Jews who were punished -- priests, Gypsies, Communists, Socialists, trade unionists, musicians, painters, criminals, homosexuals, and even some Germans affiliated with these groups were prisoners at Dachau. Jewish prisoners were treated the worst. If you were a Jew, your life was worth nothing.
Any prisoner who was too weak to work was killed.
The barracks were inhumane living conditions. There were too many prisoners held at Dachau so each barrack was overcrowded. The top bunks were the best for two reasons: 1) heat rises and 2) dirt falls. The prisoners were held to unrealistic high standards such as perfectly aligning their pillows and blankets each morning in a short amount of time.
"And look at the checkers on the blankets: they all run straight downwards, not one of the checkers makes a crooked line. What is more, each bed has the same height. You'll be sorry if one of them shows a small depression, they you'll immediately get reported for punishment ... Everything here is pure bluff and devised to torment us. Often they come and rip out the beds, throwing the sheets and blankets all over the place. One of the overlords merely needs to be in a bad mood or have had a bit too much to drink. If he thinks one of the beds is badly made, then he will write up the name of the person, who then receives a report. The punishment for that is one hour pole hanging."
- The Powerful and the Helpess, prisoner's report by Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz
The washroom was made up of ten toilets and two wash areas. This was entirely insufficient for several hundred prisoners to use in only a few minutes each day.
With more and more prisoners coming to Dachau, there was more mortality. It was impossible to bury all of the decreased prisoners, so crematoriums were built. The gas chambers and crematoriums were separate from the rest of the camp, so prisoners had no idea they existed until they were brought here. I mentioned earlier that Dachau was a work camp, so much so that even all of the crematoriums and gas chambers were built by prisoners. These prisoners were kept in their own confines, unattached to the rest of the camp so they could not tell the other prisoners about this cruelty. The gas chambers were disguised as "showers" to eliminate fear among the victims.
This is a waiting room which is where victims were to be informed on using the "showers."
This is a disrobing room which is where the victims were to leave their clothes before entering the "showers."
Up to 150 prisoners could fit in a gas chamber at Dachau at one time. Once all of the doors leading to the gas chamber were closed, the entire process would take up to 30 minutes. There was a small hole in the wall which guards could look through to see once the process was complete and the humans were dead.
Stepping foot on the same ground where hundreds of thousands of innocent humans were murdered was a disturbing and somber experience. I am appalled that humans can treat other humans in such an inhumane way. Something like the Holocaust does not just happen over night and I think this quote just about sums it up perfectly:
"Monsters exist, but they are far too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions."
- Primo Levi