Munich, Dachau, and the rise of the Third Reich

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Hello Everyone,
Yesterday I visited the Memorial at Dachau that is at the site of the former concentration camp. Dachau is infamous for being, not only the first concentration camp, but also the training grounds for the SS. The SS were Hitler's elite police/army who were in charge of the concentration camps all through out Germany and its territories. The SS training was for boys 16-19. It was basically training in torture. All of the future concentration camps used Dachau as a guide and the rules and regulations used in all the camps were drawn up there. Dachau was the only concentration camp open for all 12 years of the Third Reich, 1933-1945.

Today I took a tour about the rise of the Third Reich in Munich. I learned a lot of things I never knew before. I forgot my camera, but it would have been pointless anyway, because the sites of significance have now been replaced. It was facinating learning about how an apple ipod store used to be the beer hall where the Nazi party began and Hitler became member 55. I won't bore you with too much history, but here are few things that I never knew before.

Nazi is short for the National Socialist German worker's Party.

Hiter served as a runner for Germany in WWI, even though he was born in Austria. He lasted for four years despite the average lifespan for a runner being 2 weeks.

Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics.

MANY people tried to assassinate Hitler. One memorable instance a man planted a bomb that leveled an entire building in Munich. It only failed because Hitler left the building 15 minutes early. The man responsible spent 6 years in Dachau being interrogated before being executed 6 days before the camp was liberated.

Dachau was originally used to hold Germans, mostly political threats to the Nazi party. As the war progressed the amount of prisoners in the camp increased exponentially. Even after the end of the war, German citizens accounted for the second largest nationality of the prisoners. (Although at one point they stopped registering Jews and other groups of people.)

These were very valuable tours, but not very happy. Tomorrow I am going to visit a castle.

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Photos

Interrogation Bunkers
These were where the prisoners were held in isolation or interrogated.

Work Makes you Free
"The SS had affixed the motto "Work will make you free" to the camp gate. The motto reflected the Nazi propaganda meant to trivialize the concentration camp for outsiders as a "labor and re-education camp." The motto also characterized the cynical mentality of the SS, who implemented forced labor as a method of torture and as an extension of the terror of concentration life." -Dachau memorial

Anti-semitic propoganda posters

Comments

[Dan Dougherty]

Dachau survivors
Dachua was liberated 29Apr45 by rifle and weapons companies of the 45th and 42 Divisions, both Seventh Army. The following list of those liberated that day is from the WW II history of the 157th Infantry Regiment (45th Division) : Poles (including 96 women) 9,082; Russians (9 women) 4,258; French 3,918; Slovenes 2,907; Jews (225 women) 2,539; Italians 2,184; Czechs 1,632; German nationals (6 women) 1,173; Belgians 848; Hungarians (34 women) 670; Dutch 558; Austrians 253; Greeks 195; Spaniards 194; Luxembourgers 133; Croats 103; Norwegians 79; Serbs 79; Rumanians 50; Slovaks 44; Lithuanians 39; Alsace Loraines 36; Americans 6; Miscellaneous 127. Total 31, 462.