Dachau: Germany's FIRST Permanent Concentration Camp

[@niclasgaydoul2892]

As a German, living in Munich it was mandatory to at least once visit Dachau with the school, an on our tour we had with my Class, our Guide who has shown us around was a Dachau survivor himself. He gave us insights into everyday life in the Camp and even shared Stories about the sudden disappearance of his loved ones and friends, who were incarcerated in Dachau aswell. It was a Story that made a lot of my classmates cry, myself included. Then we came to the Building behind the whole complex, where they kept prisoners in solitary, to which the Guide said that he would not enter the Place and that he was very sorry but he simply couldnt handle going in there again. In my opinion everyone should visit a concentration camp in their lives, because nothing tells you the Story of what really happened better, than seeing first hand, what horrendous acts were performed during that time. Thank you Chris for sharing these pictures and Stories with all those who have no chance of visiting such a place in their lives.

[@CookingWithCows]

As a German from the east, it was mandatory to visit the KZ Buchenwald(near Weimar) in a school trip. Thinking back, it's quite disturbing that different regions of Germany have their "preferred" KZ to visit because it's logistically closer to them for a class trip to organize the busses and so on and for the drive to not take too long...

[@scipioafricanus2212]

Ngl, a compulsory trip sounds like a waste of time.

[@niclasgaydoul2892]

why would it be? If you think the Students aren't interested, that may be, yet they still get a feeling of how disturbing the whole thing was and won't think of it like "eh, the Holocaust wasn't even that bad". @@scipioafricanus2212

[@hellermartialarts]

Our tour guide in Auschwitz was from the town nearby and asked if and how many tours can she do, cause you could tell it affected her as well. She said tour guides were only allowed to give two tours a week and she did it because it was important.

[@sebastianliebmann6014]

it wasn't mandatory ofc

[@carpediem5232]

Really well done, especially your approach of not doing a lot of on side commentary. There is little worse than people vlogging non stop at these places or using it as a backdrop for their social media. Even though your elaborations are about history, I think that you chose the right approach by narrating the pictures you took later on. It shows the respect you have for the topic and the place. Thank you.

[@HarrisonLehn]

Chris I really like the style of this video. Film and then add the narration later makes it such a nice viewing. Well done as always

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Thanks. I'm moving toward this format with some future historic site videos as well.

[@xenialafleur]

I'm American and went on a 10 day high school tour of West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. One of the places we went was Dachau. Standing in that place at the age of 14 had a real effect on me.

[@boesvig2258]

There was a teacher in my Danish high school who had been interned in Dachau. Every class got to spend a lesson just listening to his talk about his experiences. He was with the resistance, and was arrested. I remember him talking about the hard labor, the malnutrition, and the cold. One morning he had woken to find that his bunkmate had succumbed during the night.

[@robertsandberg2246]

I used to work for a man who was involved in liberating this camp. He showed me photos that are seared into my memory. Thank you for your service Buck Pearsol. 🇺🇸 The horror that took place in this camp and all the others is just incomprehensible. 😢

[@_j_i_jordan5691]

I think this is the perfect VTH video that everyone is missing out on, really amazing vlogs that are really professional. The video's quality was spectacular, i didn't even recognize that I was on this channel. Amazing Video !!!

[@FloHaDo]

My Family and I live in Dachau and have been living here for many Generations. I often talk with my Grandparents about, how it was back then living near such an evil place and I would love to tell some of the stories they told me here, but sadly there is not enough space in the comment section. I would have loved to meet you when you were in Dachau so I could talk with you about those in person and I hope I will get that opportunity the next time you will be in the area (if there will be a next time).

[@NatoBro]

I visited there in 1981 as part of a group of Canadian Army Cadets on a course that summer in W. Germany. I tell people that we were a pretty rowdy bunch of boys, but after seeing the camp, it was the quietest bus ride back to Lahr we ever had. My oldest daughter had a chance to visit with a high school group in the mid 2000s. My group also visited Natzweiler-Struthof at the end of our course before we went back home. Sobering and educational. I will never ever forget.

[@xilonffa2291]

Thank you for the content

[@TheMasonK]

My grandfather was at the liberation of Dachau (45th infrantry division). This is a great video. Thank you Chris.

[@ernestkostrouch5451]

Compliments on your video. Its important that we never forget about that dark part of history. I remember my visit in Dachau. It was very special for me, because my grandfather was interned there. He fought in the spanish civil war in the international brigades and was brought to the camp after he was captured and delivered to the gestapo after the civil war. He barley survived the camp. It was quiet an emotional and powerfull experience to stand in front of the barack he lived in.

[@Loowee__]

Im British and I visited Dachau this year too in February, right after Auschwitzs. It’s definitely an eye opener, obviously know that the holocaust was terrible but you really don’t feel personally affected by it until you see it with your own eyes. It definitely was a sobering day for me and all my friends when we went, we were quite quiet for that evening when we reached our hotel in Poland from Berlin. Including the portraits on the wall of the prisoners in Auschwitz…they looked so similar to eachother and didn’t look like people each with their own life and family. Most of the information in this video was given to us from our tour guide in both camps respectively and the informational rooms and board notices, so thanks for sharing it on KZbin and making it more accessible!

[@chartreux1532]

Concentration Camps here in Germany are definitely very different to the ones in back then Occupied Poland etc. I work as Historian for the "IFZ" (Institute of Contemporary History) here in Germany and live in Berchtesgaden so i'm partly responsible for the Museum on the Obersalzberg (aka The Eagles Nest) as its known in the USA. Unlike most Countries we Germans do grow up learning about our War Crimes starting around Grade 6 in High School. Now to be fair back when i went to High School in the early-mid 1990s our History Class was basicallyl 99% Holocaust and 1% anything else which of course was over the top. Also to be transparent my Grandfather (still alive at 105) was a Allgemeine SS Guard for the "Berghof" pre-1941 and later a Waffen-SS Soldier in the 1st Div "LAH" until the End of War. To be transparent, he was also in Post WW2 Couts 2 times but always let go because of lack of Proof. However, interestingly enough he established quiet the Connections with US Vets and Soldiers and even gave Lectures in the US regarding his Experience with Soviet Soldiers and Anti-Partisan Warfare, so he was well liked and respected by the US Military to this Day. But yes, visiting Dachau or in fact ANY other Concentration Camp is something People should do when visiting Europe

[@arnodobler1096]

I was there over 30 years ago. I remember the day very clearly, to this day.

[@advancedlevelgaming]

I visited Dachau end of December 2021. Absolutely chilling taking a tour through there, I'm so glad that I visited it because I learned so much.

[@Namenlos-fo1ek]

I live in a town close to Dachau. It is tradition for every student in that region to visit the camp at least once in their school lives

[@scipioafricanus2212]

Sounds like a waste of time.

[@brianhobaugh]

@@scipioafricanus2212Not to people who know history is important.

[@Lucas-yo3ut]

I even think it is mandatory for all bavarian students to visit a concentration camp. I'm from an area 100km up north and people from my area either visited Dachau or Flossenbürg.

[@sinasouls]

“Never Again” concise, powerful and inevitably sad. I respect that. I mean what else can we do beside showing respect and moving on? I can’t even imagine the horror.

[@_boney]

Living close to Dachau we went to go there with Scool seeing it once is more then enough for me never again!

[@hellermartialarts]

When I lived in Germany, I visited Sachsenhausen, Dachau, and Auschwitz. The size of the places simply can't be shown, it must be felt. Took a tour of each place as well as walked around, felt it was important to do. I know the experience stays with me much more than just reading or seeing a video about it. Watching the video brought back a lot of memories, including the irony that it was also a nice quiet sunny day when I was there in a place with such a dark history.

[@anti0918]

John Cleese of Monty Python told a story recently that when they were filming a comedy special in Germany, their tourguide offered to take them to visit Dachau. They thought it was an odd suggestion, but went along with it. After being taken in a limo on a long ride to visit the camp, they found out it was closed for the day, and they were not allowed in. Graham Chapman leaned out of the limo and shouted, “tell them we’re Jews!”

[@scipioafricanus2212]

He's not jewish, he's a roman!

[@spartakos3178]

Documenting this stuff, reliably and accurately in such a way that it can stand the test of those who doubt "the narrative" is incredibly important for the future.

[@alexamerling79]

I've visited Dachau the last time I was in Germany in 2013. It was sunny in the village of Dachau but when I got to the camp memorial site clouds came over and no birds were singing. Very eery feeling. Never forget.

[@twotwoplayer]

Just visited there last summer, truly harrowing place. Dachau the town was a very nice little area, with such a haunting past.

[@zacharyliles8657]

Really well made video Chris. I enjoyed this style and I think it was the perfect way to balance teaching the history along with being respectful to the victims and the location

[@JohnyAngelo]

I've been to Auswitz-Birkenau concentration camp some 15 years ago and I always describe it feeling as if you are visiting a cementary a graveyard, it has similar vibe to it. I was there on very sunny spring day I think gloomy cloudy day would make even bigger impact but what struck me was that some people would put a blanket down and have a picnic on the grass between those endless little barrack houses, it felt so inappropirate to see ... and the memorial plaque had this perfect text saying something like "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and warninig to humanity." Very memorable experience.

[@emilygardner4829]

WOW!!! Thank you, I got so much out of this video!

[@cannongardner2658]

I haven't been to Dachau, but have visited other camps. Always such a sobering experience. Thanks for sharing

[@oliver21.]

I went with my class, as it was mandatory for every school in munich to visit this place, the atmosphere was incredibly tiring, just very devastating.

[@thrayne]

I lived in (then) West Germany from 1984-1991. My father was in the Air Force and was stationed there. I went to Dachau a couple times. I will never forget what I saw and how it “felt” being there especially during the later part of the Cold War. Living in West Germany at that time was an unforgettable experience. I toured many former WW2 sites including Eagle’s Nest and stayed at the Platterhof (named Genera lWalker hotel by the Allied forces) in Bavaria. I was there during the Chernobyl disaster and actually saw the Berlin Wall come down. I also got to visit many WW2 battle sites like Bastogne. I will never forget what I saw and learned being there.

[@snallygaster2946]

I just visited here while on a trip through Germany since my grandfather had been in one the units that entered shortly after it was liberated. I have never felt a more haunting and somber place in my life. I don’t think I’d even be able to live in the town.

[@luigidisanpietro3720]

As a fellow Christian, have you visited the Priest Barracks of Dachau? I heard at school that a total of 2,720 clergymen were imprisoned in Dachau, most of which are Roman Catholic, 109 were Protestants, around 22 Greek Orthodox, some Old Catholics, Mariavites, and Muslims...

[@AdventuresOfATravelingDon]

I visited this place back in 2016. It was such a sad and humbling experience. I highly recommend anyone visiting Munich to take the trip out to Dachau. While it doesn't have the notoriety of Auschwitz and some of the others it still needs to be visited to understand where all that began.

[@cyndiebill6631]

Such a sad place. Thank you for doing such a heart felt video. Never Again.

[@raiantonnyferreiraoliveira8198]

Good videos as always

[@swissgameguy]

I was in Dachau 4 Years ago with my school and i have to say, i never felt more uncomfortable and scared than in this place. I really felt the suffering that took place here.

[@Swagdonaldz]

thank you VTH

[@Pomsoneer]

Amazing content as always! Might I suggest reacting to Lavader?

[@xbpodcast2024]

brilliant presentation

[@nekoboy56]

This was awesomely made. I never knew about any of the other camps bc we're just taught about the one that Anne Frank was sent to and seen in the XMen movies.

[@horrido666]

I was there on one grey afternoon in the mid 80s, and was surprised it was in an urban area.

[@LexusLFA554]

I was at Dachau and Terezin. Haunting places, theee is this weird effect of uncomfortableness to everything. As a German this is why we need to prevent such a thing from happening ever again.

[@bobburris4445]

Very powerful video.

[@arrivtuber]

I remember when I visited Auschwitz for the first time with my school. It's a really haunting experience. Especially because my Teacher was a former Journalist who spent most of her time interviewing survivours and researching the Holocaust. At each corner she could tell us a story a survivour told her. Hearing about the Holocaust is a completly different experience from actually standing at a side where it all took place. Knowing something like the Holocaust could happen on such a large scale and with such "efficiency" is a terrible thing. Also the group I went there with was a after school class where we talked a lot about the 3 reich and discrimination in general. Being there with this group after preparing for a year was a one in a life time experience. More schools should do this.

[@Oddyseouss2077]

I was debating visiting Dachau while I was in München this summer. But I felt that that would be a visit for another time..

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

You should definitely do it when you get the chance. I spent a lot of time walking around on my own, trying to ponder what went on there. It was an overwhelming but necessary experience.

[@matzeh3498]

@@VloggingThroughHistory @johnkaragianis3889 If you have the chance, you might want to go to Hebertshausen as well. It's like 2 km from the camp site, a much quieter place. The SS used it to execute people.

[@cobbler9113]

One thing that does worry me is that as survivors of the Holocaust are dying out themselves for obvious reasons, places like Dachau and Auschwitz will lose their significance over time. Already we see studies showing an increasing level of scepticism among younger people about the horrors of the Holocaust as just one example. While I don’t think this will become a significant issue anytime soon, time might eventually change the emotional impact of how these places are viewed and we need to make sure that future generations continue to be educated about this.

[@jkent9915]

10:35 “May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945, because they resisted Nazism, help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men.”

[@supermanifolds]

Great video, I appreciate your approach to doing voiceover in editing here, people being loud and obnoxious at places like these is the worst

[@Randleray]

If you go to school anywhere in south germany, it is basically mandtory to visit Dachau during the last 2 years of school. I was there and by all means, if a visit in Dachau doesnt humble you in some way, you might want to see a professional. Just the sheer vastness of the area initself is brutal on the soul. And when you go through the different complexes and see some pictures, you will fall silent at some point for a while. When I was there, they had the special prisoners cells open for visit, afaik thats not the case anymore. One of such cells were constructed in a way, you could only stand up right. We should go in there just for a moment to get an idea of people which have had to stay in there - literally - for days. At the end of the day, we reached the cremating facility and when the gude told us, the whide plaza in fron of the building was the exact place, the keepers threw out the ash, several people of my class broke, we had tears and sobbing. I had seriously bad nights for days after the visit.

[@hoshinoutaite]

In case folks didn't catch the words inscribed under Crematorium.. "Denket daran wie wir hier starben" or "Remember how we died here".

[@heh9392]

I visited that place myself in 2022

[@Redjoy123]

At the start of my teaching career, I taught high school at a relatively affluent school in a very cosmopolitan district in the US. We spent quite a bit of time discussing the holocaust and the treatment of Jews and other people in occupied countries. Quite frighteningly, I had a few students who responded with “maybe they deserved it“ or “good” when discussing the treatment of Jews. These weren’t bad kids, but they had been taught about history and politics from a modern lens and conflated Jews with a particular foreign policy issue that is in the news now as of December 2023. For that reason, one of my colleagues was able to several classes together from multiple cultures and held a day of cultural exchange. Teachers and students have chance to discuss issues revolving around their culture and their issues. I teach at a different school now, and I don’t think they continued the cultural exchange after Covid, but I thought that was a great start to address cultural differences in a very real way, outside of the classroom. Tours and videos like this are also good for showing students the end of the path of state sanctioned intolerance. Excellent video. Heartbreaking and informative. Thank you.

[@bobfurman2739]

I am American ,63 yrs. old .I went there when I was 10 . It looks vert different ,and the museum is not near as graphic ...it was a different time!

[@Razor-fv2tv]

It's still hard for me to understand how a few idiots (excuse the term, I can't describe them any other way) got a previously proud country to cross the line so far. I'm not ashamed of Germany, I'm ashamed that we didn't just chase these men away before it could get to that point. And yes, I know that it's easy to judge from today's perspective. But I am proud of how Germany faces up to its past in the post-war period and does not deny it. Yes, mistakes were made there too, but without mistakes you can't learn. As Thomas Edison said, "I am not discouraged, for every error recognized is another step forward."

[@coniston3106]

Germany & their people have done well in acknowledging the past doings & are very well informed. Not all countries are willing to admit their past atrocities let along educating about it. Anyways I love the german culture & its food. 👍🏼

[@TheHistoryUnderground]

Certainly a sobering place.

[@CaiRobinson]

When I see this as a Canadian i am always reminded of how we interned the Jjapanese, while we didnt necesary kill them we took them away from their homes and treated them like second class citizens at best. Ruining their lives. Racism, and inability to see each other as all belonging to the same family makes us do horrible things to each other.

[@ruthgallagher9584]

Ues, there were 2,579 Catholic priests there.

[@clayedwards987]

So, what happened to the Bavarian and Austro-Hungarian royalty that was initially interned there?

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

They were all released from the camp and placed under house arrest later in the war.

[@columbus7950]

I visited Dachau this year. Horrific, but everyone is capable of these horrors. German people need to forgive themselves.

[@TSGPhilipp]

What do you mean with "forgive Themselves"? People dont blame Themselves here (Except for the Few still alive who literally played a Part in it)

[@carkua6512]

1:47 could anyone expand on the jehovahs witnesses part? This is the first I’ve heard of that

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses were interned, many of them executed, because they refused to swear allegiance to the Nazi regime

[@Rchapa]

Could you do a video debunking some of the most famous American conspiracy theories? Kennedy assassination, 911, Pearl Harbor

[@noxus9484]

Usually I can take in a lot of difficult topics and be fine, but as a German myself the Holocaust always makes me so angry and devastated that I go completely silent. It's just absolutely too much which horrors were commited during this period of time. And I'm absolutely terrified by the fact that we have a political party whose goal it is to bring this time back and it grows larger and larger every year...

[@atompunk5575]

Hard to understand people who denie the holocaust, and i understand why some countries absolutely make it necessary to teach the holocaust. During high school (2007-2012) sophomore and junior years we met two holocaust survivors for our history classes of WW2 when studying the holocaust. An old woman who were fashion designers, post WW2. We were also taught heavily about the communist regime of Cambodia and Russia, which communist nations have committed the worst crimes than the nazis

[@jordanhooper1527]

Very poignant, thanks for your work!

[@erwerjunter1980]

You know, as a German who has heard all this a million times, I'm gonna pass on this video, but I'm sure it's good for a foreigner to learn something new.

[@theedon501]

Unfortunately I’ve been here. Awful vibes. Was a weird day and a quiet ride home with my family.

[@ET_Bermuda]

Hey, VTH, and anyone else reading this comment. Go. See. Godzilla: Minus One! At first glance the movie appears to be irrelevant to this channel. But I assure you, Godzilla: Minus One is an historical war drama disguised as a Godzilla movie. It's NOT about Godzilla, but rather the effects of the atomic bomb on war-torn Japan. Seriously, go out and treat yourselves to it. You'll know what I mean once you see it!

[@zacharyliles8657]

Really well made video Chris. I enjoyed this style and I think it was the perfect way to balance teaching the history along with being respectful to the victims and the location