[Samurai]

Excellent coverage and report.

I read the book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany when I was 15. The book itself was released in 1960. It was terrifying to read. I came across photographs and many movies on holocaust much later, but nothing is surprising after that book.

There is also holocaust denial that is now considered fashionable in neo nazi and white supremacist circles. They think this was made up by Jews to score sympathy and show Hitler in a bad light. Therefore, these memorials are very important proofs that must be preserved to remind the future generations.

[laluks]

I was reminded of our visit some 15 years back to Dachau. When I visited the war museum, at Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam last December, Dachau always came to mind.

All these well preserved memorials, like Narayan had put it, stays as a reminder for the future generations.

Thanks for the log, it was a wonderful read.

I have read and reread Victor Frakl's "Man's Search for meaning" many times. Since I had visited the place before I read the book, it was more intense.

[srishiva]

Thank you very much for such a descriptive thread with pictures. Very informative. We cant even imagine the plight of the people who had to go through this.

Its great that the Germans maintain these as monuments although it was part of their shameful history. Contrast that with our country which is gutless to even mention past events other than generically saying how great we were. We need remember the past to enable us to make corrections in present.

[superbad]

If your mere words can induce such sadness & sense of tragedy amongst readers, I can only wonder what it'll feel like to actually visit the place. Thank you for sharing this haunting experience, that very few have the stomach to digest.

[Pam81]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

‎
One reason we have these well preserved memorials to this tragedy is because of the desire of modern Germans to atone as a nation and as a reminder for the future generations of Europeans. The second reason is that this was a henious crime of mega proportions inflicted by the white community on their own. I wonder how many years will go by when similar memorials are built for other mega atrocities perpetrated on coloured people by whites and by other coloured people. Example - the famines of colonial India often a direct consequence of colonial policy; the stealing of lands in Kenya; hunting and exterminating the aborogines in Australia and stealing children from their parents; the atrocities in Congo; the pain we inflict on our Dalits & tribals; the systematic killing of almost all Native Americans; the pain inflicted by the Japanese on Asians in WW-2 and so on.‎ ‎
‎

Very true and counting still. Recent atrocities in South by politically motivated gangsters on spoiling the life of many Women! As for one, this coverage depicts how cruel one could be in power, we are in times to see/feel how vulnerable common Indian citizens are without any rights / power.

[adi_gt]

I had the the misfortune to visit the Dachau concentration camp on a grey cold day in autumn 2010. It has brought a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. The misery and condition of people made me really grumpy that day. I could not even finish my dinner after visiting the camp. Those words have left an indelible mark on my psyche - "Never Again" and we as a society should ensure it at all cost. I don't know if I can congratulate you in making me relive those haunted memories again.

[speedguy]

Excellent post. I was there in last October. I barely managed to click some pics & after sometime gave up. The plight of the prisoners was terrible & after interacting with my wonderful, warm & friendly German colleagues I always wonder how Germany produced those sick minded people in that era.

Later I visited to Nuremberg Trial court also, which prosecuted all the living war criminals with dignity.

One thing to take a note though.. However horrific it is, Germans have maintained this place neatly. If I was there at the time of Dachau's liberation, I would have flattened this place to the ground with use of road rollers, Bulldozers, JCBs & what not.

We are fortunate that we or our forefathers didn't experienced atrocities like these.

[SajiNSalin]

Thank you for a very well researched and written post with excellent photographs. I had visited Dachau in December 2000 and it was a very chilling and emotionally draining experience. Later I visited Sassenhausen in the outskirts of Berlin and in addition to the brutality was the shoe/boot testing track where prisoners had to walk endlessly to test the newly designed and fabricated boots for the army. The very worst of brutality indeed.

[Jeroen]

Thank you for such an elaborate and well researched report.

It is very chilling to read this story. Pause for thought as they say. I have yet to visit Dachau. My daughter and husband visited it last year and were very impressed.

As many Dutch people of my generation, we have friends whose family members ended up being deported and ended up in Dachau (or other camps) during WW2. My dad, who was a student during ww2 had to go into hiding for the last two years of the war. The Germans were rounding up students and deporting them to work camps or worse.

He was lucky as he survived. He used to tell us stories about how they hid in a secret alcove in the loft as German soldiers were searching the house. It was very tricky, hiding anybody was a crime, punishable by death. So those who helped out put their own lifes and families at risk.

Something good did come out of this. He met my mother who was the youngest daughter of the family who hid him. Shortly after the war they married. The rest is history as they say.

Thanks again

Jeroen

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!
This one managed to send a chill down my spine while going through each post. A reminder of how cruel humanity can get sometimes!

Thanks CrAzY dRiVeR, for moving it to the forum.
I couldn't agree more on the cruelity bit, it seems like every action and thought in the camp was built upon to maximize the torment.

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Thank you for this thread, and I have never meant these words more. This thread also reminded me of one of the most moving and insightful books I've read - "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl - in which he has narrated his experiences as a POW in various WW II Nazi concentration camps, and the psycho-therapeutic methods he derived from those experiences. Please do read it, if you haven't already.

Thanks comfortablynumb.
I haven't yet gone through the book, but I will definitely make it a point to get hold of it, even with the hypothesis that I may get further entrenched in the misery of it all.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you for penning this detailed narrative. The tragedy was beyond count or comprehension or understanding. You wrote it so well that I felt I was walking through those grounds again after several years.

Thanks a lot, Narayan sir!
When I started penning this write-up, I had a tough time keeping my feelings under check.
‎

One reason we have these well preserved memorials to this tragedy is because of the desire of modern Germans to atone as a nation and as a reminder for the future generations of Europeans. The second reason is that this was a henious crime of mega proportions inflicted by the white community on their own. I wonder how many years will go by when similar memorials are built for other mega atrocities perpetrated on coloured people by whites and by other coloured people. Example - the famines of colonial India often a direct consequence of colonial policy; the stealing of lands in Kenya; hunting and exterminating the aborogines in Australia and stealing children from their parents; the atrocities in Congo; the pain we inflict on our Dalits & tribals; the systematic killing of almost all Native Americans; the pain inflicted by the Japanese on Asians in WW-2 and so on.‎ ‎
‎

So true, every word of yours!

Originally Posted by Samurai

Excellent coverage and report.

Thanks Samurai.

There is also holocaust denial that is now considered fashionable in neo nazi and white supremacist circles. They think this was made up by Jews to score sympathy and show Hitler in a bad light. Therefore, these memorials are very important proofs that must be preserved to remind the future generations.

Absolutely, that's exactly one of the key reasons for preservation of the monuments.

Originally Posted by laluks

I was reminded of our visit some 15 years back to Dachau. Thanks for the log, it was a wonderful read.

Thanks laluks

Originally Posted by srishiva

Thank you very much for such a descriptive thread with pictures. Very informative. We cant even imagine the plight of the people who had to go through this.

Thanks srishiva.

Originally Posted by superbad

If your mere words can induce such sadness & sense of tragedy amongst readers, I can only wonder what it'll feel like to actually visit the place. Thank you for sharing this haunting experience, that very few have the stomach to digest.

I do not have sufficient words to express how remorseful it is to experience the camp site in person. However, having said that, if you get a chance, please do visit.

Originally Posted by adi_gt

I had the the misfortune to visit the Dachau concentration camp on a grey cold day in autumn 2010. It has brought a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. The misery and condition of people made me really grumpy that day. I could not even finish my dinner after visiting the camp. Those words have left an indelible mark on my psyche - "Never Again" and we as a society should ensure it at all cost. I don't know if I can congratulate you in making me relive those haunted memories again.

When I finished my visit at the camp site last month, I had momentarily lost all feelings of my surroundings and was totally taken aback by all that I saw. I can very well relate to what you had experienced.

Originally Posted by speedguy

Excellent post. I was there in last October. I barely managed to click some pics & after sometime gave up. The plight of the prisoners was terrible & after interacting with my wonderful, warm & friendly German colleagues I always wonder how Germany produced those sick minded people in that era.

Thanks speedguy. Even for me, sometime after an hour or so in the visit, when I had looked at the exhibition samples, I had almost thought of walking out. But then, something tugged at me and here I am, chronicling my experiences in this thread.

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

Thank you for a very well researched and written post with excellent photographs. I had visited Dachau in December 2000 and it was a very chilling and emotionally draining experience. Later I visited Sassenhausen in the outskirts of Berlin and in addition to the brutality was the shoe/boot testing track where prisoners had to walk endlessly to test the newly designed and fabricated boots for the army. The very worst of brutality indeed.

Thanks SajiNSalin. There are so many other instances where we see the atrocities taking shape in various forms and madness, that it is just impossible to fathom the very definitions.

[Dhruv29]

Thank you for a detailed and well written post. Just imagining being in the shoes of the people being sent to the camps makes my body shiver. It's sickening to see some section of our society outright denying holocaust.

[9thsphinx]

Was always 'intrigued' about the holocaust, the Nazi regime and their concentration camps. Especially after I watched some well made movies (Hitler - The Rise of Evil, The Pianist) and TV shows (The Man in the High Castle) on it. Your narration gives a surreal & scary view on what went down at the concentration camps - of course, what those people must have gone through, there's no easy way to comprehend that. While I am genuinely sad and sorry for the lives lost, I thank you for penning this and sharing it with the rest of us.

Rating your thread five much deserved stars.

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Thank you for such an elaborate and well researched report

Thanks Jeroen.

It is very chilling to read this story. Pause for thought as they say. I have yet to visit Dachau. My daughter and husband visited it last year and were very impressed.
As many Dutch people of my generation, we have friends whose family members ended up being deported and ended up in Dachau (or other camps) during WW2. My dad, who was a student during ww2 had to go into hiding for the last two years of the war. The Germans were rounding up students and deporting them to work camps or worse.
He was lucky as he survived. He used to tell us stories about how they hid in a secret alcove in the loft as German soldiers were searching the house. It was very tricky, hiding anybody was a crime, punishable by death. So those who helped out put their own lifes and families at risk.
Something good did come out of this. He met my mother who was the youngest daughter of the family who hid him. Shortly after the war they married. The rest is history as they say.

Am glad that this write-up has rekindled that part of history which is so memorable for you in a certain positive way.

Originally Posted by Dhruv29

Thank you for a detailed and well written post. Just imagining being in the shoes of the people being sent to the camps makes my body shiver. It's sickening to see some section of our society outright denying holocaust.

Thanks Dhruv. Indeed, it is.

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

Was always 'intrigued' about the holocaust, the Nazi regime and their concentration camps. Especially after I watched some well made movies (Hitler - The Rise of Evil, The Pianist) and TV shows (The Man in the High Castle) on it. Your narration gives a surreal & scary view on what went down at the concentration camps - of course, what those people must have gone through, there's no easy way to comprehend that. While I am genuinely sad and sorry for the lives lost, I thank you for penning this and sharing it with the rest of us.

Rating your thread five much deserved stars.

Thanks.
To be honest, I really didn't anticipate that I could inscribe in detail, the experiences of what I had seen at the site.

[PratikPatel]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It brought back some unpleasant memories, but none the less they are part of my experience of Germany. I was planning to visit Auschwitz but frankly lost my nerve after visiting the 'Topography of Terror' museum in Berlin. The exhibit move me to tears. All I could think was 'how can man do this to fellow man'.

My best friend who was with me asked me if I wanted to take some pictures with the exhibits. I just could not bring myself to take any pictures. It felt like I would be dishonouring the victims by taking pictures of myself with the exhibits. As we left the museum I told my friend 'Thank god we were not born in this country, I don't think we could have lived with a legacy like this'.

[am1m]

As a contributor has already said in an earlier post, a lot of similar atrocities (not on the same scale thankfully) have been committed by several cultures the world over.

The reality seems to be that as a species we continue to be susceptible to leadership that appeals to our basic tribal instincts, our "us versus them" mentality, and will always try to pit communities against each other to gain power.

The important thing is that we continue to remember past atrocities and remain vigilant that they don't occur again. And (heaven-forbid) if they do take place, most of us will have the courage to help those being targeted.

"Never Again".

Thanks to the OP for posting.