KZ Dachau 1933

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Just why are you shocked? There doesn't seem to be anything particularly disturbing about any of those photo's. They are rather interesting.

The photos may be interesting, but when one considers that this concentration camp in particular was the beginning of a process of the wholesale imposition of totalitarian rule in central Europe and elsewhere, then the images are pretty shocking, in fact.

Since Adrian Stevenson is not here to do so, let me also say that those who are interested in political arguments to render harmless the effect of national socialism or romanticize the SS have many, many other websites in the internet for their pleasure and enjoyment. They do not belong here.

These images themselves were also intended as a means to intimidate and silence opponents of the regime, since the establishment of the concentration camp was accompanied by a public relations campaign in the months of the so called Machtergreifung, that is, the months after the 30 of January 1933.

Himmler's role in the political police in Bavaria at the time these image were taken was a kind of experiment in the destruction of civil rights and the establishment of state terrorism that gained speed in the subsequent years. When one considers the heritage of the rule of law in Germany in the decades and centuries prior to the erection of this camp, and what its existence came to mean to the lives of thousands and presently millions, then that is shocking, too.

And, finally, I rather think that those who collect this regalia in the 21st century, were they subjected to these conditions for maybe a few weeks or more would also find the experience not only shocking but also quite harmful to their health and reinforce their affection for due process of law and civil rights that most people who post here take for granted.

Think about it.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Here is an even more shocking image, in fact, with Himmler's odd grin of a new home owner as he admires his new real estate outside of Linz, at Mauthausen. Even Ziereis is enjoying himself. In comparison to Dachau as it appears today, Mauthausen is an enormously creepy and frightening place. I went to Dachau in 1971 and again in 1973, so my memory of it is not so vivid. But I went here to where Himmler, Eigruber and Ziereis are standing and found it really exceptionally awful.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks FB. Very true words.

Cheers, Ade.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thanks FB. Very true words.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks, Adrian, for yours. You and I are both eager to keep this site a place in which to learn about regalia while upholding the constitutional safe guards in the western world that make life bearable especially in a time of general crisis as today. The US Americans should also keep in mind that a lot of continental Europeans post here and certain loose talk tolerated in the US becomes actionable east of Calais.

[packin9]

Please read my posts again. I'm shocked or should I say rather surprised that these photos survived and were not destroyed.

Of course they are interesting, that's why I posted them.

I read it again and it still comes up the same to me. But,no big deal.

[BOB COLEMAN]

The documentation preserved by these photographs is tame in comparison sa to how these institutions would evolve in to institutions of horror and extreme human cruelty.
as we study these images, I do hope someone finds a picture of one of my KZ Kommando Standartes for historical preservation

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The question is which of the men in the rag tag muster in the spring 1933 images in Dachau can be found in these images of the SS in Poland in 1939?

[Friedrich-Berthold]

or here in the summer of 1944? It is interesting to speculate what of Hoess' experience alongside the Ottomans in the 1914-1918 war (see his "eisernen Halmond") proved a "lesson learned" for the process of ethnic cleansing in central and eastern Europe in the era 1938-1944?

[vady]

right on the money, fb.

[packin9]

It was not my intent to make a political statement or offend anyone. I pretty much stay out of such things. And looking at the photo's as is, does not seem shocking. They all look well cared for at that time. Later on is a different story. Post those later ones and I may well agree with you. Late war photo's were much different. Outside of being historic which as you state is the purpose of this forum, It seems you (FB) have made it political. I enjoy this forum and learn some from it. Again,no offense intended.