Unfortunately, Alison and I did not get to see any of Munich. We both came down with Maximilian's Revenge (who would have thought you couldn't drink the water in Europe) and spent our one day in Munich in bed sleeping.
On leaving Munich, we stopped at the Dachau Concentration Camp (Konzentrationlager), the first camp opened in Germany in 1933. The camp was intended for political prisoners who would be used as forced labor in a nearby munitions factory. Over time, Dachau became the model on which all other concentration camps were constructed. By the end of World War II, Dachau had housed over 206,000 prisoners, 32,000 of whom were reported to have died while in camp. In an ironic but just twist of fate, following the war Dachau was used to hold SS officers waiting war crimes trials.
The Jourhaus Gate building, the main entrance into camp.
The iron gate to the Jourhaus which bears the infamous motto "Work Makes You Free."
The main grounds of the compound. The outlines shown below are the foundations of the prisoner barracks.
The new crematorium, built in 1943. The original crematorium contained a two-chamber oven, which was not large enough to accommodate the deaths that were occurring through disease, starvation, and executions.
Three of the six chambers inside the new crematorium.
Although Dachau never served as an extermination camp, the crematorium did contain a gas chamber. It is believed this chamber may have been used to experiment on a limited number of prisoners.
Inside the gas chamber.
Next and final stop: Nuremburg.
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