KZ Dachau 1933

[colt45]

were visitors allowed and did the capos run the camp?

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thanks to our new member for his nice historical essay, which, I think, for many readers needs context and interpretation to make full sense. But thanks for your hard work and useful and insightful comments on a complicated subject. I think the remarkable thing is how the concentration camp system consolidated quickly in the course of about a year or so. As to the legal aspects of the thing, there are excellent sources to read on same, but the Enabling Act of March 1933 provided the necessary quasi legal window dressing of a state of emergency to suspend constitutional rights, which, in the Weimar Republic under Article XXXXVIII had already been badly damaged since 1930.

The Sydnor book remains a useful, important source, while there is a lot of excellent new scholarship in German.

[hassiman]

I have been interested in the NAZI era for many years... and while I find the SS interesting from many different perspectives I can never forget what the organization was and what they did. Many a brave OSS agent was beheaded at Dachau, not to mention political prisinors and American/British escapees... in fact I have read that many more people were introduced to madame Guillotine by the Gestapo and SS during the third Reich then during the French revolution. I have a friend that was one of the first into Dachau.. and he says he will NEVER forget the stench of the rotting bodies and the spector of death on such a massive scale... and he had seen years of combat.

In 1987 I was in Amsterdam at a neighborhood swap meet... an old ladey took out a box and put it on a table and opened it. I saw it had 2 german daggers inside. I asked her if I might examine them and where they had come from... She said they had been her attic form many years and she had no good memories of the germans.. lost too many family members. One was a pumpkin handled AF daget and the other was an SS. Both mint.. As I picked them out of the box I saw something in the corner... I couldn't believe my eyes.. It was a real GESTAPO identity disk. I asked her what she wanted for the things... She asked $40 for each dagger and wanted $5 for the disk.... she said she just wanted to be rid of the stuff. I told my wife what the disk was and what it was worth... we had just been in Anne Frank's house the day before. I realized that this disk had been used to cause so much fear and misery I would never own it and certianly not make money from it. I told the old woman that the disk was worth thousands of dollars to a collector... She was greatful I told her what her stuff was worth. We left. I just couldn't be a part of any of that history... study it yes... but admire it like some do... never. It was exciting to find such a rarity though.

[packin9]

Sounds like a real steal.After all the history you quoted ...didn't ya feel a little guilty?

[BenVK]

I applaud you for being so honest with the lady. However, might it have been better to just offer her a better price for the items?
After all, she most likely took them away and with thoughts of thousands of dollars in her head but maybe never did find a buyer and prehaps they all ended up in the trash anyway?

[John Brandon]

I applaud you for being so honest with the lady. However, might it have been better to just offer her a better price for the items?
After all, she most likely took them away and with thoughts of thousands of dollars in her head but maybe never did find a buyer and prehaps they all ended up in the trash anyway?

Or perhaps someone told her they were not worth that amount, and diddled her, If you were that honest, I would have gone that extra yard, and bought them for a fair price, that way everyone gets happy. I'm glad you did not do what others might have

[N.C. Wyeth]

For those interested in Dachau, and after my recent visit, I found this website helpful:

Dachau Concentration Camp, gas chamber, SS Training Camp, Dachau Trials, Town of Dachau, Memorial Site

[hassiman]

Mr. Wyeth,

I have not read everything on the link you have provided but from what I have read it seems that this site is an example of anti-holocoust revisionism that flies in the face of long and well documented historical fact. It is in poor taste and even poorer knowledge of history. Anyone that set foot in Dachau upon it's liberation would be mightily offended by any mention of the poor treatment of postwar German POWs as war criminals. One frind of my fathers who had been part of the force that liberated Dachau told me that for weeks after his experience there he and his fellow soldiers felt obliged to kill each and every German they encountered... acts for which he later felt deep remorse and guilt for the remainer of his life. He said that what he saw there was far more traumatic than anything he had seen in his 2 prior years of intense combat.

A friend of mine that had been Waffen SS and had been captured at the battle of the bulge once told me that if any german told me that they had no idea what was going on in the camps they were damn well lying. Personally I feel no pty for what happened to the germans after the war... they probably got better than they deserved.

[N.C. Wyeth]

Take it easy hassiman . . . as you say, you have not taken the time to make a thorough review. I am no revisionist by any means, and I cannot speak for others. I find some of the information curious myself - I admit, some of the information presented may require a little more scrutinty on the part of the reader . . . but if you do read through the site a little further, you will see that the "author" has quoted (mostly) from a multitude of various sources - including some of the best known publications about Dachau. In addition, it contains a boatload of very nice photographs - that alone is worthy of at least honorable mention.

Although I did not share in the experiences personally, I too have heard many stories from survivors of Dachau, including some from liberating veterans. A few are actual relatives - in that respect, we have a similar understanding. I don't believe any of us can speak on their behalf - simply to say, we were not there. I take the website for what it is - another source for further introspection on the topic of Dachau. I suppose this subject is difficult for some . . . if the website disturbs you so much, feel free to request to have it removed . . .

[hassiman]

I understand... I would never request for removal... but just ask for critical thinking vis a vis any possible revisionism.. which for some reason seems to be on the upswing.