Dachau

Before entering Munich we made a brief tour of the infamous Nazi Konzentrazionslager (Concentration Camp) at Dachau. It is from the German name for Concentration Camp that the abbreviation "KZ" comes from. I mention this simply because I know one or two people who have asked about this after seeing it in movies and documentaries and not knowing what it meant.

Some people don't realize that actually Dachau is the name of a small town near where the camp is located. However in the minds of the world the name "Dachau" has become inextricably linked to the Camp, much to the chagrin of some of the modern residents of the town, many of whom were born long after the war.

For more information on the camp, its history, and about the the neigboring town, I recommend this page, from which I got this quite apt quotation:

"Dachau, 1933-1945, will stand for all time as one of history's most gruesome symbols of unhumanity. There our troops found sights, sounds, and stenches horrible beyond belief, cruelties so enormous as to be incomprehensible to the normal mind. Dachau and death were synonymous."
- Col. William W. Quinn, 7th U.S. ARMY

Central Memorial

Memorial Wall

The Dreaded Gate