KZ-Gedenkstätte (12 March 2006)

KZ-Gedenkstätte, a name that will forever be known in history as a site of terror. Commonly known as the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, it was completed on 21 March 1933 and was the first concentration camp of the Third Reich. This camp served as the model of all other concentration camps, right down to the layout and the organisation. It features a crematorium and a gas chamber, although reports are that the gas chamber here was never used. Prisoners who were to be executed were sent to extermination camps like Auschwitz.

The camp was liberated by the 45th Infantry Division of the US 7th Army on 29 April 1945, just weeks before the end of the war. The Americans found 32,000 prisoners alive and 39 railroad cars, each filled with 100 or more corpses. There are 4 religious memorials on the site, for the various religions of the prisoners.

I saw a group of Singaporean students there for a school tour. Some all-girls school, but I didn't bother to talk to the teacher. Pretty cool place for a school trip eh? Too bad it's winter here :p

My heart felt very heavy and the atmosphere was very tense. Even though it is only a memorial now, I can feel the terror and ill-treatment of the inmates. When I saw the words "Never Again" on the plaque near the monument, I prayed a silent prayer that such an occurrence will never again happen.


The path to the entrance


The Jourhaus, an office building


The barracks, only 2 are left standing with reconstructed interiors


Memorial plaque

Photobucket: KZ-Gedenkstätte