Day 4 Dachau

Dachau












(so many thoughts, pictures, images, sounds fill my mind and prevent writing, this post was a struggle)

"where books are burnt, human beings will be burnt in the end." Heinrich Heine, no clearer words describe the beginning of the dictatorship to the end.

2 months after Hitler seized power in 1993, Dachau Concentration camp was opened. Over the next 12 years many millions of people throughout Germany and German occupied territories were murdered and tortured throughout all of the 'camps'. But Dachau was not only the first concentration camp, it was open the longest and was the place the SS used to train recruits in how to run these camps.

The things we experienced that day:

-The laughter of German school children (they were speaking German, so this is an assumption) in their early teens like they were skipping around the school yard. What ran through their minds regarding the scenes all around them, did anything?
-the solemn faces on the French school kids (again, assuming the language they spoke dictated the country)
-The sheer number of older people crowding the displays, the pictures, the stories, looking like they were searching for a link to their past.
-The graphic, and how else could it be depicted, displays and stories in the museum
-Deep profound sense of loss of humanity, of the human spirit, of the human will, of human dignity and of a general respect for mankind.
-Deep peace with our willingness to recognize and pay our respects to all the people and families who suffered at the hands of the Nazi's.
-the foundations that remained of the former barracks, 34 in total, plus the "medical center", left an eerie reminder of the past, only the trees the prisoners planted in front of each barrack remain.

I learned so much that day, about the war, about the German Occupation and how far it's reach extended. I learned the overwhelming number of concentration camps, extermination camps and everywhere they were located. I learned that the Dachau prison ward was a place of horrible atrocities, many we'll all never know. I learned that paying your respects, for any loss that you feel in your heart is a good thing. I always knew the atrocities extended beyond German Jewish people, but didn't realize virtually no stone was left unturned, no religion, race, gender, nationality or affiliation was left untouched. (the map to the right tells it all, every dot is a camp)

I learned that few people leave the main museum display areas and walk into an attached room, the Reflection room, plaques from survivors, families, organizations and nations hung heavy on the wall.

I learned that there was so much sadness, so many shocking scenes that I couldn't find a tear till I walked in the Reflection room.

I learned that just beyond the Dachau wall is a neighborhood... their backyard fence is the Dachau fence.

I learned that about 5% of the visitors who go to Dachau, at least on the day we were there, bothered to walk a few hundred yards, beyond the roll call courtyard, beyond the museum, past row after row of empty foundations where the barracks once stood, down to the convent, in order to see the memorials, one Jewish, one Catholic and one Russian.

I learned that shortly after the war the German citizens demolished most of these facilities in Germany, literally wiping their existence from the face of the earth, as if it never happened. One display called it a general sense across the nation of "Repress and Forget". I suppose that's one way of dealing with this, and honestly, how is that any different than the response I've seen in life, with so many people, friends and family alike, when facing life's greatest difficulties. It is not my style to do that and I've never understood it, but the fact remains far too many people choose this response to what they cannot understand, face, or change.

I learned that you would have a hard time finding many of the original camps, their existence is now farm land, nothing left.

I learned that it took decades for the first honor/memorial to be erected in Germany and it occurred due to pressure from other nations and their survivors. This is not to say that all Germans, and the country of Germany itself are wrong or bad or horrible, I just don't agree with this response. Decades?

Throughout our trip to Germany, and even the time leading up to it, I found it difficult to enjoy the sheer beauty of the country, my image of Germany will likely always have a shadow cast for the decades of death from this. I found reminders in every town, little memorials cropping up as you walk along, I saw flashes of memorials along the train tracks as we travelled in the countryside. And yet, there comes a time when you have to separate the past from the present, the citizens from the SS, and realize that we are all human beings. Just like I will never know what it's like to be related to a Survivor or their family, I will never know what it's like to live with the sins of the German past.

And so I leave you with the images, in black and white, because honestly, there is no life at Dachau, there is no spirit and there is no color there. Strange thing is, when I went to remove the color from the pictures, they all already seemed "black and white", the greyness of the day, and of Dachau having already removed the color it seemed.














(for those offended by the pictures, my sincere apologies, I knew no other way to bring to light the true nature of the Memorial to those who may never experience it in person)