Howie & "T"

Dachau Concentration Camp.....

Our next stop was to Dachau . It is located in Bavaria, just outside of Munich.

This is a place we all were eager to visit. I had learned about concentration camps a bit in school so I thought it would be nice to actually see it first hand.

It was a sobering experience to say the least.

There was an uneasy feeling about that place the moment you walked through the gates.

The saying on the entrance gate mean "work brings freedom" or work shall set you free.

We decided to take a self tour so they gave us these listening devices to carry around with us from one point to another as we learned about the stories and tragedies that took place here.

This was some baracade called a Pill Box that the guards would stay behind. The gun would just stick out the opening in the bricks and the guards would be there to shoot intruders.

When you first enter the gates there is a huge open area right before you. So much of the torture these people had to endure happened right in this very spot. They used this area for roll call each day.

This is also where the prisoners would first be brought upon arrival.

They held roll call both morning and night. Forced to stand motionless for for many hours at a time in all weather conditions. Even the dead were drug out for roll call. I decided to take a picture of the signs which summarize some of the things we learned about. You can click on them if you'd like to read more info.

Just adjacent to the roll call area were the barracks. They had only two section still standing which we were able to go into and see how the living conditions were there.

April was on her way over to the barracks and this group of men came by. All fancy in their little uniforms. You could tell that they were touched by what they had just seen. This gentleman in the front of my picture was lagging behind the group. As he passed me tears were rolling down his cheeks.

This is inside the barracks. These were the sleeping quarters for the prisoners. They were literally crammed in here three bunks high. They were packed together so tight because of insufficient beds to go around. They slept head to foot.....

They were meticulous about cleanliness and detail. They said that even the checkered bedcovers had to be in perfect alignment.

Here are a few of the excerpts found inside the barracks that describe how things were then. You can click on them to get a better look and read about it if you'd like.

Potty break anyone?

This shows the bathroom as well as the sinks inside the barracks. GROSE!! Where is the privacy? Not important I guess....

After checking out the barracks we decided to go into this building and watch a movie about the events that happened here.

There was this cool memorial statue to the victims of Dachau

We did not have enough time to look through the museum but we passed this and I thought it was awesome. It represents Jews on a death march out of Dachau.

Camp Road....

There is a long road which you walk down to enter the other part of the camp by the crematorium. Cement foundations marked the placement of the other 28 barracks.

Hey where is Lyssi? April used this plastic cover to keep the cold, cold wind off of the girls as we pushed them around in the stroller. Is she breathing in there?

This bridge leads to the cremation building. The crematorium was not attached to the camp back then. This bridge was built later to give visitors access to it.

This shows the guard tower in the background as well as how hard it would have been to try to escape. They were shot instantly if they entered this grass area. If they got past the guards without being seen they had to jump over this ditch filled with water, scale the barbed wire fence, more grass and then another barbed wire fence. Pretty tough to get out of this place. They also told us that many people would go here just to get shot to be put out of their misery.

We walked over the bridge to the building that housed the cremation ovens.

This room was called the death chamber and was used to store corpses brought from the prisoner camp until they could be cremated.

They showed pictures where this room was filled practically up to the ceiling with dead bodies waiting to be cremated. Too graphic for my blog but extremely sad. It was a gruesome symbol of inhumanity.

Prisoners were hung from the rafters right in front of the ovens

April pointed out the sink in the background. It must have been necessary for their hands to be completely sterile before they fried someone!

They did a nice job with this memorial for those who suffered and died here. It was well manicured and very beautiful.

You walk down this gorgeous path just to stumble upon more sadness...

When I saw this stone pointing out the wall in the background I was thoroughly sickened. I saw Schindlers List and saw the cold blooded murders that occured.

But to stand and look at the very wall where many, many were lined up and shot truly saddened me! They were stripped of their pride and dignity only to be murdered in cold blood.

Just beyond the pistol range is the stone marking the Blood Ditch which was designed to catch the flow of blood when prisoners were executed with a shot in the neck.

This is in the same area where the ashes were dumped after the bodies of the victims were creamated

It was nice to see so much beauty in a place that had so much ugliness.

It was so sad to think that so many innocent people had to endure the Nazi brutality with so much pain, suffering and death.

Time to head home.... Not enough time to see it all but what I did see had a huge impact on my life. I am so glad we decided to come see this place. Maybe next time we will be able to see it all.

"But mommy can't we keep our souveniers please?"

The girls had been gathering their own personal rock collection along the way with a few leaves for color. April found them in their pockets and had them just choose a few to keep