Bob'sYourUncle

If you like far less touristy pretty towns to spend a few hours in, then you could do Regensburg or Landshut, both not too far from Munich.

flpab

Garmisch has so much to do and see. Take the train from Munich.

Flying Lawyer

Dachau has not do too much with religion (notwithstanding the fact that the Nazis kept several catholic and protestant clerics in Dachau) and is in particular not one of the sad centres of the holocaust.

Flying Lawyer

Objection....

Truely Bavarian. At the ustmost. 95 percent of all Germans would never wear leather trousers and do not fiit into these cliches. To my humble believe the same is true for 75% of all Bavarians.

jspira

Quite true.

The Biergarten is truly a Bavarian institution (for those interested, see my article on Munich's Biergärten which includes a brief history).

jspira

Au contraire. Dachau was established for political prisoners as well as for Jews so it did have something to do with religion. (Its role was expanded a few years after opening to imprisoning ordinary criminals in addition to the first two groups.)


I am uncertain as to how you would define a ,,sad centre``. The Dachau KZ is very significant in German history for multiple reasons.

Dachau was the first Konzentrationslager (KZ or concentration camp) opened by the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers' Party) back in 1933. The Dachau KZ served as a model for other concentration camps built later.

By the end of the II. World War, over 3.5 million Germans had ,,visited`` a concentration camp.

The NSDAP used psychological terror to keep the population under control - the constant threat of being sent to Dachau was enough to keep most people from protesting the abuses of the new régime.

As an historian, I would further distinguish between concentration camps and extermination camps (those established to conduct wholesale murder of the Jewish ghetto and concentration camp populations, such as Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau). This does not however diminish Dachau´s significance.

The above is not intended to be an exhaustive history of the Dachau KZ but simply to point out the significance of this particular KZ´s rather significant place in world history.

Flying Lawyer

That is what I meant. Simply do not expect that Dachau is something like Auschwitz. I said "Dachau has not do too much with religion" and it was certainly not a centre of the holocaust such as Auschwitz or Treblinka but founded as a prison camp for political prisoners (as you sadly could and still can find them in other parts of the world too).

At least from what I recollect it was never established as a camp for jewish prisioners. After the Nuremberg laws and "Progromnacht" Jews were imprisioned in Dachau, however, as I understand not because they were Jews but more because they were "used" for political reasons.

And you are certainly right with the difference between concentration camps (to my recollection an originally British and/or US invention) and extermination camps which could be defined as an "industry to kill human beings", a very Nazi German thing.

Dachau is very important for German history as such and to understand Dachau you need to know quite a bit about SA, SS and the competition between these two organisations and 1930 to 1945 German politics and society.

beginnerflyer

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Neurenberg and the Nazi Documentation Center. After the war, the Allies ordered the construction of this permanent exhibition in order to provide a lasting reminder of the origin of the Nazis, how they seized power, and the outcome of their policies right down to photos of concentration camps, damage to German cities and the trial of the war criminals in Neurenberg. You can also tour the large rally grounds that are seen in many of the old film footages from that time. It was a moving experience, and as a history buff I learned many new things, as well as many questions I have had in my mind for years, answered. One of the most compelling displays were children's school notebooks (from about 2 - 5th grade) in which they wrote essays about how "bad" anyone who was not German was. The molding of these young minds was indeed very scary. A worthwhile visit.

jspira

Good point but I believe you mean Nürnberg or Nuremberg - my correction being made so that anyone reading this can find the city you mean.

beginnerflyer

Yes, you are correct, my mistake!

Flying Lawyer

And lets add that Nürnberg is one of the most beautiful big medieval cities in Germany. Focussing just on the short Nazi period does not do any justice to Nürnberg. It is about an hour train ride from Munich.

jspira

I agree - and Nürnberg is also one of the few large cities to still have its original city walls in place.

mamb0

Dachau not only was a concentration camp for politicals, that was the purpose in the beginning of its existence. Dachau's main purpose turned into feeding the military industrial complex in the north west of Munich with slave workers, also inmates (social, political, sexual, racial and religious) were subdued to human experiments connected to the research for the companies in the area and Luftwaffe. They were seriously injured and killed in experiments testing the effects of water pressure, air pressure, temperature changes, falling from heights with protective gear, testing parachutes, pressure chambers, breathing apparati, G forces, medical experiments on how to treat shot wounds and so on. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Rascher who was one of the "scientists" doing the experiments.

Also inmates were executed by shooting squad or processed for transport to Death Camps in the east.

The death march of the inmates from Dachau towards Bad Toelz at the end of the Third Reich is still remembered here.

It had more than 200.000 inmates of which an estimated 3rd were mainly german jews and 35.000 inmates have died in it or its sub-camps

Especially since Dachau was the first one, it became the template for future concentration camps and it's architect became responsible for all the others.

If you google Dachau Massacre you will find statements about the state and conditions there during the end game. I recently was remembered of this incident when watching Shutter Island.

It is a very sad part of the holocaust.

Greetings from Dachau,
Mamb0

Jack Napier

It's depending on your plans and where you want to go. Another option could be a Deutsche Bahn railway "Bayernticket" which is in the standard version good for up to 5 people with public transport included in the major cities for a day. It costs around 25 €.
You might use the search option here, as it has already been mentiones in other threads.

richinaz

How easy is it to get to Linderhof w/o a car? Is it easier to get to from Munich or from Salzburg? Lastly, is it open in the winter time (December)?

Thanks.