Munich again and Dachau

Last Monday (23rd July) I made a trip to Munich for my night off. There were a couple of reasons for the visit. Firstly, I had to stop in Innsbruck to pick up my pre-ordered copy of the new Harry Potter book. Secondly, it was a good excuse to spend several hours on a train reading the new Harry Potter book. Thirdly, to catch up with a friend from Uni, Robert Hofmann, who was also in Munich this week. Fourth, to go to the opera on Monday night to see The Marriage of Figaro with Simon Keenlyside playing the Count. Finally, to muster up the courage to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp memorial site.

It was great to see Robert after a long time. Unfortunately, the production of Marriage of Figaro that we saw was a bit disappointing. The set design was very sparse, to the point where the 4th act which is set in a garden was bare walls and all white. It also felt very under-rehearsed, but I think this was because it was part of the Opera Festival which has a huge number of different operas only doing 2 or 3 performances each. At least it gave us plenty to talk about over beer afterwards!

Visiting Dachau is something that I have wanted to do each time I've been in Munich, but have kept putting off, knowing that it would be a fairly difficult experience. However, this time I was determined and set off on the train on Tuesday morning. There are buses that go from the Dachau train station to the camp memorial, but they were crowded with teenagers and it was a nice day for walking, so I set off along the path that many of the prisoners would have walked on their way to the camp. It is well signposted (mostly) with photos and information about the journey to the camp. The walk is only about 3km, but I'm sure my walk was much easier than theirs would have been.

The Camp Memorial site is building a new visitors centre at the moment but luckily it didn't mean that anything was closed to the public. Visitors enter the camp through the guardhouse through which the prisoners would also have entered. The gates have the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes you free).

The Assembly area is the first place you see through the gate. Prisoners would assemble here for roll call every morning and were often made to stand for hours in gruelling weather conditions. Many collapsed during the roll call and other prisoners were not permitted to help them.

There is a museum set up in the old Amenities building (the building visible in the photo above). There is a lot of information and many photos in here about the Concentration Camp including which groups were targeted as prisoners and the atrocities that occured in the camp (such as grotesque punishments and medical experiments), but it was so crowded with tour groups, mostly of young students, that it was difficult to get around and absorb the information. One particularly sad area was the bath area where prisoners were washed, but also hung on hooks from the ceiling as a punishment. Behind this building is the prison block were prisoners were sent for further punishment. Some of the cells were only big enough to stand in.

All but 2 of the bunkhouses have been demolished and it is horrible to look at the 2 remaining and realize how many people were kept in them towards the end of the war.

The fence of the camp has been left as it was. The grassed area in front of the fence was not permitted for prisoners and there were shot immediately if they stepped onto it. A number of prisoners deliberately stepped into this area to end their suffering.

The final part of the camp was probably the most difficult to see. The crematorium was where all of the dead were taken to be burnt (I'm not going to post pictures of this as they are very depressing) There was a room for fumigation of clothing. The next room was a shower room where poison gas could be used to exterminate groups of prisoners. At Dachau, this room was not used. The last room was the crematorium itself with 4 large ovens for the bodies to be burnt. This was also the room were condemnned prisoners were hanged. Around the crematorium are large graves of ashes as well as the firing squad wall were many more prisoners were executed.

Visiting Dachau is something I am glad I have done, but it is definitely not a happy experience. It is terrifying to think of the things that happened in that place. In some ways, it was nice to see that there are so many people, especially young people, visiting the memorial site, but at the same time, the large groups of young people really didn't seem to enter into reflecting about what they were seeing and were quite disruptive to others visiting the site. (I think this means I'm getting old). It was particularly sad to see one group of boys throwing rocks at some of the others in the group just outside the camp. What can you say to them to let them know how inappropriate and ironic that is?!?

"May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933 - 1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow man." (from one of the memorials inside the Dachau Concentration Camp)