Author Terry Lee Marzell contemplates teaching the Holocaust during a recent visit to Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany.
History teachers, particularly teachers of US History or European History, are usually tasked with leading their students in a study of World War II. Such a study must, inevitably, include a discussion of the Holocaust. For any teacher, a study of the Holocaust would be greatly enhanced by a visit to historical sites commonly mentioned in literature about the period. Recently I was able to visit one of these sites: Dachau Concentration Camp, located just outside the city of Munich in southern Germany.
Dachau was the first concentration camp opened by the Nazis. Established in 1933 for the purpose of housing political prisoners, it also served as the prototype for many of the Nazi death camps that were built after it. Eventually, Dachau was used as a forced labor camp for Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) prisoners and foreign prisoners of war. Over the 12 years the camp was operated by the Nazis, more than 206,000 individuals were incarcerated there, and of these, nearly 32,000 were exterminated. After the war, the facility was used by the Allies to hold Nazi soldiers awaiting trial.
The visitor to Dachau enters by a gate that, like the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Theresienstadt, bears the words “Arbeit Macht Frie,” which translated means “Work will set you free.” The greeting creates a strong sense of irony, since the prisoners became slaves who could not earn their freedom, no matter how hard or how long they worked. Continuing further, the visitor can view the roll-call square, a guard tower, the reconstructed barracks, the crematorium, the Nazis’ offices, and memorials. The Nazis’ offices have been turned into a museum to house exhibits and a movie theater which plays a video providing background information about the camp.
A visit to this place is sobering. The souls of those murdered or incarcerated here call out to the visitor. It is a testament to the German people that sites connected to the Holocaust have been preserved as historical sites and repurposed into learning centers, instead of being bulldozed in an effort to forget what happened here. It is interesting to note that Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, and it is against the law for German citizens to give the Nazi salute. Furthermore, young German students are required to take a tour of a concentration camp as part of their general education, and during the school year such groups can be seen at Dachau, escorted by their teachers.
The American teacher is, in most instances, unable to take students on a visit to this historic site, but you can share a virtual tour of facility by clicking on this link: Dachau Virtual Tour.
