Brian wanted to plan a trip to Munich, since we knew there would be a lot places for us to explore. What better than to go Labor Day weekend and stay a night. I guess you could call this our first mini trip. Our agenda consist of Dachau Concentration Camp, the Munich farmers market, the Tierpark Hellabrunn Zoo and Nymphenburg Palace. We're still trying to get the hang of driving around on the streets. A few times during this trip we missed a road or couldn't get to where we needed to be because of construction. Thanks to our handy dandy GPS, we managed.
First up, Dachau Camp. The exhibit was free so all we paid for was parking, lunch, a few books and the audio headset. Total without the books and lunch this would cost around 8 euros.
View back to where the train station originally dropped off prisoners. This is what's left of the road that prisoners would use to get to the camp.
Gate into the camp, the quote over the iron gate says "work makes you free"
The layout of the camp. The large building on the left is where the prisoners were registered. There where 34 barracks total. Thirty of them were used for housing the prisoners and the others were used for treating the prisoners and medical experiments.
All that is left of where the barracks once stood, are stone outlines with a number plaque.
Towards the back there was a road that lead to the crematorium.
It's so sad to think that this pretty brick building was used for horrible things. I wish I got a better picture with the detail.
The room we're standing was the waiting room, which led to the next room where the prisoners would get undressed. They were under the impression that they were going to shower (dark room). The last room at the end (in the picture) is where they would hold the bodies.
Furnace room. I was standing in the doorway to another room used for incoming bodies from other camps.
These are chambers in which they would sanitize the clothing of prisoners so they could use it for other things.
Here is the old furnace house where they would burn the bodies. Most of the stuff we read said that there weren't many people gassed at Dachau, they mainly used their crematorium to burn dead bodies brought in from other camps. That's why they had to build a bigger furnace room. Sad thing is, the prisoners were the ones who burned the bodies.
This is a statue to memorialize the unknown prisoner.
At the back of the camp different churches built memorials in remembrance of what happened at the camp.
This picture was found at the end of the war, it was drawn by a prisoner in the camp. Apparently it was frowned upon to draw and write things down. They had it etched on a piece of glass. It was hard trying to get a good picture of it. Men standing around in their barracks.
This is the view down the main road, it looks back to the main building. The trees which line the road have been in place since before WWII.
This is another drawing by the same prisoner, it's a picture of them lined up for roll call in the morning.
Here is an actual photograph of roll call in the morning taken from the main entrance tower.
This is the main in processing building at the front of the camp.
A memorial statue, it looks like bones and people when you get close to it.
Inside this box, are the ashes of an unknown Holocaust victim.
Memorial by the main entrance says,
"May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men."
A map of all of the concentration camps throughout Europe. The main camps are the large squares, the large triangles are the extermination camps and all the smaller sub camps are the other icons
The next few pictures are from the inside of the main building which houses the main museum exhibit.
This is an aerial photograph of the camp.The red in the middle was the prisoners camp, the green area was the SS training camp, purple area was the gas chambers and the yellow outline area at the bottom is the plantation where the prisoners worked.
An aerial photograph of the barracks.
These are the reconstructed barracks built to show visitors what they looked like. The barracks were designed for 200 prisoners, by the end of the war they each housed up to 2,000 prisoners.
The lockers where prisoners could keep their belongings during the day.
The sinks and toilets.
A photograph taken after the liberation of the camp which shows just how crowded it was in the barracks.
This is a part of the wall which they left to show how it was impossible to escape. There is a ditch and an electrical fence with barbwire, followed by another gap before the outer wall. Each guard tower had SS guards with machine guns. They had orders to shoot anyone who got close to the ditch.
Next: Munich Market/Downtown
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