Tuesday, May 25

Dachau Concentration Camp was a difficult trip. To hear about the horrors that took place there and how the Nazi Regime passed the camps off as things that were actually “good” for the country was nothing short of chilling.

We saw the munitions building where the original workers built the bombs and other artillery. That was where most of the prisoners were prior to 1938. After that time, the camp expanded enormously and became a place of execution. Prior to 1938, Dachau was place of torture, but very few were actually executed. At first, only political enemies of Hitler were sent to the camp. But the more powerful the Nazis became, the more workers they needed and the more they wanted to exterminate those who they deemed to be “less than human,” who included Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and pretty much anyone who could not prove s/he was not German by blood.

When a prisoner arrived at Dachau, a series of events immediately took place. First you were stripped of your clothing and shaved from head to toe for demoralization and uniformity. Next you were disinfected with a chemical that burned the skin and was terribly painful, especially if you had been cut by the blunt razor in the shaving process. Finally, you had to stand naked for hours in a group until you were given clothes that probably didn’t fit. This process was followed for all the prisoners who became workers in the camp.

There were some who became wise to the Nazis and did what they could to help, like Oskar Schindler. He kept hiring more and more workers just to get them out of the camps and away from the Nazis. And there were others who did the same as he. (If you’ve seen the movie Schindler’s List, then you know how Schindler did this and how guilty he felt afterwards for not being able to save any more people than he did.)

The barracks where the people lived in Dachau are all gone now, but the foundations of the buildings are still there. The camp was originally designed to house about 6000 people, but by the time it was liberated, it housed 60,000. It was eerie to walk down the center aisle of the barracks. You could almost “hear” the cries of suffering and pain that was endured there leaching out of the earth itself.

One of the final things we saw was the crematorium. The “old” one was too small once more “undesirable” prisoners began to arrive; it only had one oven in it and could not keep up with the increased demand for its use. When there were only political prisoners at Dachau (1931-1938), the single oven was enough. Thus the Nazis built another crematorium just across from it; it contained four ovens. This building was set up in a series of stations: 1) you were stripped of your clothing 2) you had to stand naked for hours 3) you moved forward into the next room for a “shower,” which was really the gas chamber. It is said that the gas chamber at Dachau was never used, but our tour guide was doubtful about that. If that were the case, he said, the Nazis would never have been able to exterminate 60,000+ people there before the camp was liberated on April 29, 1945.

The memorials were especially nice. They seemed like a ray of hope in an otherwise dismal and sobering place. Over and over again, we saw signs to “Never Forget” and “Never Again.” Let us hope so. There are memorials placed there by the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church (Lutheran), The Russian Orthodox Church, and by the Jews. Each one is quite meaningful and very different. The Roman Catholic one has a crown of thorns on the top and a large bell that is rung every day at 3pm (about the time when Jesus died on the cross). The Jewish Memorial is shaped like a ramp to one of the cattle cars that transported so many to the camp. The Evangelical one is a very modern looking building to stand out in stark contrast to the rest of the camp. The Russian Orthodox Memorial is a prayer chapel.

There are also several memorials in place for those who died but are unknown. One that I found particularly moving was a statue of a man standing tall with his hands in his pockets. When the men lined up each morning and evening for roll call (only men were at Dachau – women and children were sent to a neighboring camp), they were required to stand with their hands at their sides and their heads slightly bent down as a sign of submission. Failure to show this respect could cost a person his life either through cruel torture or simply being shot execution style. This statue stands in strong and moving contrast to that.

Part of what made today so important to me was remembering Pr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I’m sure you know that Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in Germany and was part of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in 1944. Hitler escaped of course, and eventually learned that Bonhoeffer (and others) had been in on the plot. All of them were sent to a concentration camp in Buechenwald, and then to another nearby where they were all hanged, only three months before the camp was liberated. As we walked around the camp today, I felt like I had a very small glimpse into these final days of Bonhoeffer’s life.