Munich 3 – Dachau, ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’
Dachau concentration camp was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany, located about 16 km northwest of Munich.
The camp opened on 22 March 1933 (51 days after Hitler took power) and it served as a prototype and model for the other Nazi concentration camps that followed.
In the twelve years of its existence over 200.000 persons from all over Europe were imprisoned here and in the numerous subsidiary camps. 41.500 were murdered. On April 29 1945, American troops liberated the survivors.
The Memorial Site on the grounds of the former concentration camp was established in 1965. It is easily reachable by train and bus (how to get there) and the CityTourCard, I mentioned in my previous post Munich in 3 Days, covers the area; the entry to the site is free of charge.
I had visited Auschwitz/Birkenau and it’s truly a life changing event.
I went to Dachau several years ago and it really is a life changing event. Did you have a chance to take the “Hitler’s Munich” walking tour, I believe from Munich Walks?? That walk was truly fascinating and gives some great insight with how German’s recognize and cope with Hitler.
@Robert
I didn’t know about this tour but it is good you told me about it, next time I have the chance to go to Munich I’ll for sure take it.
Thanks for the reminder and the good pix. I visited the Dachau memorial multiple times while stationed there in the early-med 70s. It was a sobering experience to say the least. I think the folks responsible for the memorial have done an excellent job of preserving and reconstructing the werks that are now a memorial and apology. It is not pretty, but I believe that more folks should visit. In early 1974, just before I left the Munich area, I was asked to give a short recital on the small pipe organ in the semi-underground Christian memorial. (If I have to say so, it was a horrible little organ in a dark, moist, cold environment and I was surprised that it it worked.) The recital was a life-changing experience for me and for some of those in attendance. As horrible as Dachau was – and is, visitors should remember that it was never a direct killing camp like some of those in Poland. Rather than direct, selective killing, Dachau just worked and/or starved their inmates to death! I not longer recall the number of unnecessary deaths attributed to this group of camps, but even one was one too many. Most 21st Century Germans have no personal knowledge of the WW-II or Nazi era; those seniors who do universally claim to have been “…nothing more than soldiers following our orders…” For some, that it probably true, but for others, perhaps not. Today, the memorial at Dachau mean nothing to local Germans, save the few who have secure jobs maintaining the grounds for tourists. Germany has been forgiven and now holds a responsible place in the world, if one does not look under the carpet. We do not need to re-live that experience, nor do we need to point fingers and punish the Germans any more. Thankfully, that ended some decades ago. Still, anyone with th e opportunity SHOULD visit the Dachau site and give it a bit of thought. It its years of operation, it was decidedly NOT the serene, contemplative place that it is today.