Munich Day 2 - Dachau Concentration Camp

We arrived at Munich from Amsterdam at around 4pm, and so we spent the rest of the day mulling around the city nearby Wombats. We checked out the Tourist Information to collect brochures and figure out what to do the next 3 days at Munich.

Guess it were the history lessons in Sec 3 & 4 that made me wanna visit all those places that had to do with the World Wars. So, we headed for the Dachau Concentration Camp bright and early the next morning!

"Dachau was a Nazi German concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Munich in southern Germany." -Source: Wikipedia


These were the gates to the concentration camp.

Arbeit Nacht Frei - Work will Set You Free

The guide told us this phrase was used largely for propaganda purpose - to hide the cruelty of what goes on behind these gates in the name of re-education.

The expanse of the camp

The shacks that used to house the prisoners are now gone, but every slab filled with gravel you see now was the exact position that each shack used to be.

The few remaining buildings behind me

Reconstructed replica of how the bunk beds used to look like

Of course, prisoners did not have the luxury to have one bed per prisoner. I can't remember the exact numbers each shack housed, but it was ridiculous overcrowding.

Wash basin

Toilet bowls

Another segment of the camp

Doors to the solitary confinement cells

The rear of the building with the solitary cells

Prisoners were tortured and executed in this open area here just behind the solitary cells. Purpose was to let these prisoners hear, see & fear that the same might happen to them.

Where bodies were cremated

To escape - against all odds

To escape this camp, prisoners had to overcome three hurdles, well-depicted in this picture. Firstly, the grass strip. Anyone found on the grass strip would be shot immediately (there were lookout towers of cos). Second, the moat which was pretty wide (can't really tell from this photo). Lastly, the barbed wire fence.

The memorial reads "Never Again"