Dachau Concentration Camp: Real Ghostly Reminders from History
In this episode of CompassChaos 13, we embark on a deeply emotional journey to Dachau, Germany, a site of profound historical significance. Join hosts Heather, Compass & Chaos as they navigate the complexities of visiting a concentration camp, sharing their thoughts, feelings, and insights along the way.
Main Content:
1. Setting the Scene: The Adventure Begins
The podcast opens with Heather introducing the episode, setting a warm and inviting tone. With a mix of planned exploration and unexpected twists, the host prepares for their visit to Dachau. They emphasize the importance of safety checks, reminding listeners that this journey will be filled with raw emotions and unfiltered honesty, hinting at the profound experiences to come.
2. The Historical Context of Dachau
Dachau, while not as widely recognized as Auschwitz, holds a pivotal place in history. It was the first Nazi concentration camp, operational from 1933, and a blueprint for future camps. As Compass and Chaos discuss, the atrocities committed here were rooted in a dangerous ideology fueled by misinformation. They stress the importance of understanding this dark chapter in history, not just through books and documentaries but through the visceral experience of visiting the site.
3. The Journey to Dachau
The drive from Salzburg to Dachau is filled with light-hearted banter but quickly takes a turn as their GPS leads them astray. Chaos humorously recounts past mishaps with navigation, providing a relatable touch to the story. Their detours, including accidental stops at a daycare and a correctional facility, serve to lighten the mood before confronting the weighty reality of their destination.
4. Arriving at the Camp
Upon arriving, the hosts reflect on the eerie atmosphere that envelops Dachau. They note the stark contrast between the rusting metal fences and the overgrown vegetation, which serve as reminders of the camp's grim past. As they walk the path, they feel the gravity of the history that unfolded here, marked by the silence that replaces their earlier laughter.
5. The Emotional Experience
Walking through Dachau, Compass and Chaos articulate the profound emotional impact of the experience. They vividly describe the train tracks that once transported countless victims to the camp, sharing how the reality of history can be overwhelming. The hosts encourage listeners to engage with the past, emphasizing that understanding human atrocities is crucial to preventing history from repeating itself.
6. The Haunting Imagery
The narrative takes a darker turn as they recount a vivid and disturbing scene that plays out —one that captures the horror of the Holocaust. Chaos's emotional struggle is palpable as she grapples with the weight of witnessing such atrocities through their storytelling. The chilling description of SS officers and their cold, calculating demeanor serves as a stark reminder of the depths of human cruelty.
Key Takeaways
Visiting Dachau is not just a journey through history; it is an exploration of humanity's capacity for both good and evil. Heather and Chaos remind us that confronting uncomfortable truths is essential for growth and understanding. Their candid discussion encourages us to reflect on the importance of empathy, education, and remembrance in shaping a better future.
DACHAU Concentration Camp: Real Ghostly Reminders from History
Read the Podcast Below
Welcome to CompassChaos13(CC13): A Real Travel Podcast where Compass Plans, Chaos Rules - Connections Happen; Memories of Global Adventures
HEATHER (V.O.): I’m Heather, your adventure narrator and warm body for the hosts for this flying circus.
Today, we’re diving into [DACHAU< GERMANY], with MOM!
COMPASS: It started with a planned visit to the concentration camp.
CHAOS: It quickly turned into a time warped experience..
HEATHER (V.O.): Before we depart on this adventure, a few safety checks. First: any brand we mention is one we actually use and trust. We get zero monetary gain for these—if that ever changes, we promise total transparency. Second: this flight is for adults only. Expect questionable language and emotional turbulence. Finally, there are no warnings when the unexpected happens, because there are no warnings in real life…
HEATHER (V.O.): Meet your dueling hosts: Compass, the one with the plan—and Chaos, the one who burns it. Together, they find the magic in the mess.
COMPASS (V.O.): I’m Compass. My plan,as usual, is to experience the normal tourist things. But, as always, my head-space companion Chaos has other plans.
CHAOS: Hey Hey, Chaos here! I am the patron saint of "we’ll figure it out,". I bring the unexpected, and the reason you want to hear travel memories that are actually worth listening to!
HEATHER (V.O.): Together, we bring the connection. Sit back, relax, and push that subscribe button……
CHAOS: "AND, buckle up buttercups, for this recent tale, because honestly the best stories aren't planned."
COMPASS: THe planned day for this 15 day vacation was Dachau, Germany. To visit one of the most significant concentration camps in modern history.. On our way from Salzburg Austria to Rothenber-au-Tabor …. Everyone should visit and pay respects to those victims of Dachau, which is a very different kind of experience and connection.
CHAOS: Are talking about when pulled up to some sort of correction facility gate with a bus coming in behind us…
COMPASS: No… That was just us and the navigation system disagreeing… I would rather use my instincts…
CHAOS: I usually do… I haven’t trusted GPS since it tried to put us in a lake in New Hampshire… then there was Portugal…
COMPASS: Well, the lake was the start and Portugal just solidified my thoughts… But those are different stories… Today is about making a connection with a place instead of people. While Dachau is famous, it doesn't have the same fame as Auschwitz or Treblinka. It was in operation the longest and held some of the worst human experiments ever done …..
CHAOS: Reading about it, seeing it in pictures and old video can not give you the same experiences as life…. Honestly learning about the camps and visiting was an emotional train wreck I was not ready for…
COMPASS: None of us were ready for….. The drive from Salzburg Austria was filled with chatter from still playing “How to Solve a Problem Like Chaos” …. Mom was happy… we were happy….
CHAOS: There was a great high to the car ride, but also excitement to visit the next stop…
COMASS: Perhaps "excitement" would not be the best word to use… Historical enthusiasm … even that doesn’t fit…. After visiting it is hard to put the correct words together… This was a place that was the blueprint for every other camp the Nazi’s erected. Where horrid experiments took place, people lost lives all because some asshole told people lies… and worse, they believed him!!
CHAOS: This is a very touchy yet fascinating subject for me..
COMPASS: [whispering] Please be tactful, please please be diplomatic….
CHAOS: Even I know how explosive this topic is, especially currently…. I will handle it the only way I know how…. With blunt honesty..
COMPASS: DEAR GODDESS’ …. We’re Dead…. HEATHER!!! … Hasn’t Chaos’ blunt honesty got us into enough trouble in our lifetime…
HEATHER: Compass relax, there will always be people who disagree with us, her, me, you…. Mostly Chaos… but every living thing has a voice …. All three of us believe it or not, should be heard, even if we disagree and that is the most difficult lesson to learn…
COMPASS: Yes I know… Still doesn’t mean I want to be a target..
HEATHER: Would you rather it be someone else?
COMPASS: No…
HEATHER: Neither would I… and really neither would Chaos which is why she is truthful…. Let her go…
CHAOS: Dachau concentration camp has always fascinated me.. How I mean that is ….. How could a democratic republic, the people, allowed other humans to be jailed over differences of political opinion… Even today… DRIVES ME Crazy…. Because what … Power, Money… Resources…. Little Cock??
COMPASS: [Clears her throat} Chaos Please back to our memory, Don’t make this a therapy session as you would call it…
CHAOS: Tu Shay….. Ok, taking a page from Heather, background check… For our Bachelor’s Thesis we had to take a significant event in history and show how a micro person fit into the bigger picture… The event was the Holocaust, the person was Dr. Rascher…. The most gruesome, evil and pyschologically fucked person whe have ever studied… This was a place that was must see and after our experience should be everyone’s must see…
CHAOS: As we enjoyed reminiscing on our recent adventures in Salzburg, with Mom in the passenger seat we unknowingly drove towards one hell of an emotional and spiritual experience that we were not prepared for….
COMPASS: Thankful the GPS was working wonderful,... so we were on schedule…. All was good, at the moment….
CHAOS” [Laughing] Until the GPS didn’t work right….. Twice….
COMPASS: That was interesting….
CHAOS: [Laughing] Here we are still on a high and really wanting to see the next stop.. The GPS decided we needed a detour or two first….
COMPASS: Yeah detour…. Mom questioned when we pulled into a daycare to park….
CHAOS: Was that before or after parking somewhere questionable and we started walking down a walking path….
COMASS: After mom and I were quick to question and made you & Heather turn around instead…
CHAOS: Oh Yeah … [laughing]... Now I remember.. From the turn around at the school… the GPS then wanted us to cut through a correction facility….. [laughing] … as we pulled in towards the gate we looked at mom… she was the first to say “this doesn’t look right”.... {laughing]
COMPASS: WAS SHE RIGHT!!! This is why you need to listen to our instincts dam it…. And sometimes mom….
CHAOS: The best part was.. as we sat just about 20 feet from the gate trying to get our bearings on the GPS for the correct parking lot…. a correctional bus came pulling in…
COMASS: What my now non-drama queen companion is not telling you was that this was a max security facility with a bus coming in…. No matter how you look at it…. It just doesn’t look good…
CHAOS: Somehow it never does when I’m at the wheel.. With another slight adjustment of the GPS we were on our way once again…. Now laughing at what just happened…
COMPASS: We finally made it to the CORRECT parking lot…. Where the spaces are very tight and there is a 3 Euro Fee… we walked down a path, lined with rusting metal fences, the remnants of towers and cement huts, that in the summer are covered with green vegetation, Except for one… as the last reminder of the gatekeepers power….. When the camp first opened in 1933 buses and vans under the disguise of “Police Operations” transported political opponents of the rising Nazi party here…. In 1938 the party really put their persecution into overdrive as they invaded other countries and the cultural idea that the “Jewish people” were not human was beginning to set like the cement huts that now lie in ruins…
COMPASS CONT: Paying a modest fee of 4 Euro per person mom and us began to walk the path the first prisoners walked towards the gates of the camp….
CHAOS: Grateful for the experience…. But telling means to re-live it… Sure we can keep our composure???
COMPASS: You’re stalling….. And no, but you wanted honest and real travel…. And the world needs this…. So we are going to suck it up…. Pick up our boobs and when we go again, so be it…
CHAOS: FUUUUUUCCCKKKK…….. [deep breath].... [semi-whisper] I can do this…. I can do this… Ok, as we walked in with mom further down the mood naturally changed…. The happiness and laughs of the memories of yesterday were silenced….. We came to an intersection…. Looking left we saw train tracks… looking right we saw the gates for the blueprint of destruction for human life…
COMPASS: We took a left heading to the train tracks… knowing the full weight of human atrocities and despair that this path holds…… To know is quite different than to experience….. Projection…. Re-live… Compass help me out here…
COMPASS: I can’t .. it’s beyond my scope… I’m good at visualizing history… what happened was…. different … nothing I could have done or have a word for now….
CHAOS: We discussed with mom about how from 1938-1945 the trains were almost nonstop noe being stuffed with people and as the allies moved in @ the end of the war they were now non stop….As we wandered away from mom, my attention was now drawn from the tracks that still appeared shiny… to a path that led up to the platform…. Naturally that was the way to go…
We walked up the dirt path on to the platform… We stood there for a bit… Compass trying to visualize the past as she usually does… she has a great imagination for the history visual…
COMPASS: Thanks…. But I already told you it wasn’t me… I told you to picture a train pulling up to the platform…. See the door sliding open…
CHAOS: Yeah….[sad, almost crying] Next thing I know we are in the summer of 1943/44 on the dam platform … we are watching people that already look like the walking dead… Just broken in every way… weak from starvation, lack of sleep…… fall, not walk out of the … they were cattle carriages… wooden with the slats a bit more spacious than a cattle would get…. They were just thrown together….. Those that were standing and able to move their legs in a walking fashion stumbled over the fallin…. [DEEP BREATH]
CHAOS CONT: As we watched this scene unfold in full color, we looked two carriages down… the yelling was louder …. We saw two people; one had fallen onto the platform, the other was trying to help the person to their feet….. They were executed right in front of us… THEN FUCKING KICKED under the FUCKING TRAIN!!! [Deep breaths, whispers between breaths]... I got this..[deep breath] .. I got this…
COMPASS: [Calm soothing voice] Chaos, you okay….. Your voice was starting to crack… which means you're going to lose your cool…. Do you need me to take over…
CHAOS: [Deep Breath] No….. I can do this….. Even if it means ….. Showing the world I have emotions other than Joy and Anger…. I do cry out of sadness, usually despair but that is rare.. Most of the time is due to anger…
CHAOS CONT: {Another Deep Breath] OOOOOHHH Boy… Okay… as this real life visual unfolded before our eyes we were assaulted by the stench of death…. If you ever smelt human death, it is different from animal death. It's a stench that we only smelled once in our lives and hope to never have to again…. Now, it was everywhere as we looked back into the carriages…. [shuddering] uhuhuhuhu…. Just bodies…. Some so bloated you knew they were dead before getting on the train…. Or just left from the last….
CHAOS Cont: As if this wasn’t enough.of an assault on humanity…. We watched as soldiers pushed the last strangles out…. Executing them where they fell…. Then walking through the carriages hitting the bodies with the butts of their rifles….. If a body jerked a gun shot rang out…
COMPASS: It was horrifying.. I could have never imagined anything like that… Even you with your twisted imagination could have never imagined this…. This real life vision only got worse…
CHAOS: WORSE!! … We were in some sort of time warp… As the horrifying scene in front of us continued and our sense of smell was physically being beaten up by death… we turned to the right hoping that this would shatter our now reality…. Instead we came face to face with the German SS Officier… How do we know, he was dressed in the Black uniform which by now had been primarily phased out except for those original SS officiers…. Which still used them to instill fear…. He was taller than us, brown eyes that were cold and enjoyed the scene he was watching… A smile was across his lips, not the happy ear to ear… this smile was small just enough to curve the corners of his mouth up…. A controlled smile of a psycho..
COMPASS: We were staring into the eyes of pure hate & vengeance … It was chilling..
CHAOS: I was un-nerved by his presence…. He enjoyed the suffering, the death…. By the glow in his eyes when someone begged and a shot was heard…. He was a psycho high on an Omnipotent Complex…
COMPASS: We studied his uniform…. Black, SS, but the rest of the officers were in the now standard Grey ….. Original SS Officer …. He came up through the ranks, he took pride in the suit ... .there were no wrinkles, folds it was freshly pressed…. His medals shone proudly on his chest high ranking…. There was as expected a side arm in its sleeve …. I got the impression he didn’t do the dirty work, just liked watching it like a vouyer… he was smart, anything goes sideways he can claim he just followed and gave orders he didn’t physically do anything… plausible deniability,…
CHAOS: What we didn’t notice until we got to the side arm was the dog to his left side…. As we looked at the side arm the dog began to bark madly… we looked to see the dog, which looked like our old dog Scooby, … only this one wasn’t playing…. It was looking at us…. I had actually hoped looking through us… With a shove that made us slightly stumble and the dog’s breath on our calves that hope was very short lived….
COMPASS: This is when we snapped out of it and turned around to see who had bumped into us…. No one was there…. We were the only ones on the platform… Mom was down on the track way over on the other side… Tears started streaming down Heather’s face …. We were all trying to hold ourselves together….
CHAOS: Yeah… about that….. It didn’t go well… as we were trying to get an emotional grip… not going to lie I was flipped the fuck out about what we experienced and witnessed … This was NOT our mind stringing together old photos and videos together to play tricks…. This was a whole other TIME…. It was too personal, too real…. All those pour innocent people…. The brutality and lack of respect for human life….
COMASS: It is something for us to read about history and try as best we can to visualize it when we visit….. This experience gave us a much deeper understanding into someone’s reality… It took us a bit to hear mom calling us…
CHAOS: She wanted a photo of us on the platform… Not the most flattering thankfully she took it from afar….. After posing for the pic we came down to meet mom…
COMPASS: She took a look at our face and asked what was wrong?
CHAOS: We told her what we wanted her to know….. But we didn’t know what the hell just happened… so the best word we could come up with was “daydream” .. as we stood there she hugged us and I started at the platform….. Heather & Compass enjoyed the human warmth and love… I was still trying to figure out what the fuck just happened… Heather walked with mom, I told told her about the train carriages and how packed they were…. Not about the bodies or the smell of death … nor the encounter with the German Officer but I did tell her about the dog and the officers on the platform and the people…. Just not a detailed description of what we witnessed…
COMPASS: Those sunken faces, the bulging eyeballs…. And the skeleton fingers… I’ll never get over it…
CHAOS: None of us will…. Next time you want me to visualize a place in history can it be somewhere with positive energy in case this happens again…
COMPASS: No promises no guarantees….. After the hug from mom we started to calm down and now focused our sights on the entry way to the human living hell… Though we had calmed down significantly and the tears stopped cascading, the feeling of heavy despair stayed anchored to our spirit…. We walked through the gate on a gorgeous sunny September day with the weight of human hopelessness … Through the gate we came to an open courtyard the size of several football field…
CHAOS: We froze waiting for another time warp to open up…. None came… we were left to our own imagination once again…. We were okay with that since our first experience was not a joyous one…
COMPASS: We stood in the inner courtyard facing the main building with the restored remaining barracks behind us…. We took it in with a deeper sense of understanding…. Imagining the rows of skeleton people standing in orderly fashion for role call to make sure none were missing … when the courtyard wasn’t used for roll call the prisoners were using it for strolls of fresh air …. And their social normalities that we take for granted… We explored along the path that leads to the back with an imposing watch tower… passed the rows of barracks and the empty spaces of the ones that used to be there….. @ the back of the compound hidden off to the left down a narrow lane. Where true atrocities against humanity took place for 12 years…..
CHAOS: This wasn’t just a crematorium …. This was the blueprint for a crude death machine built to wipe out people and cultures…. And for human experiments.
COMPASS: We respectfully entered the buildings in systematic order….. Starting where those marked for death were made to believe they were stripping for showers….. Only to have their innocent live taken because 1 man was able to move the minds of the masses to normalize genocide….
CHAOS: We came out of showers and over to the next building where the innocent victims bodies where taken to be destroyed…the only evidence of their existence was whatever the Nazi’s found useful they had one them…. The ovens looked like MRI scanners… I don’t think I can ever get in one of those without having a psychological breakdown… What was the most grotesque were the hanging ropes right outside the doors to the ovens…. The Nazi Party collectively did this, this was not constructed by just 1 man… He just gave the rabidid madmen a scapegoat & Unlimited authority so long as they pledge loyalty to him…
COMPASS: [warningly] Chaos…..
CHAOS: What? …. Is my history wrong
COMPASS: No not all…. I just am making sure you are not inferring….
CHAOS: What does that even mean?? Don’t look at me like that…. What do you mean.. I ‘m not understanding the words that came out of your mouth….
COMPASS: Never mind Sorry Keep going ….
CHAOS: Now I’m confused … whatever…. All I am saying is while 1 man is seen as the cause of these…. Unimaginable demonic horrors …. When it takes a whole hell of a lot more people to push aside their own human empathy, decency, sense and instinct…. To make this a reality let alone history!! Just saying it should have never gotten that far that’s all…
COMPASS: There have been monstrasties throughout history as you well know Chaos…. Hannibal with Rome… The CRusades… The Actual Witch Hunts… Spanish Inuestion… the list goes on…
CHAOS: Real Witch Hunts….. What are you saying?
HEATHER: Ladies…. Let’s keep our focus on the memory shall we… this is not about current plotitics… Through some language and actions do seem familiar… We deal with that on our personal time.. Not on others….
CHAOS: If the personality & complexes fit….. Back at the human destruction facility
COMPASS: NO… disrespectful to the innocents…
CHAOS: I’m not trying to be disrespectful to the millions that lost their innocent lives.. I am trying to convey the message and image that this started as TALK….. Went to a strategic plan… and became a methodical systematic facility that its only reason for existence is to see how people can be erased quietly…. This is not something we should sugar coat…. This was the blueprint for Auschwitz, Berchwalden, Triblanka….. It started here…. Plan & Simple…
CHAOS CONT: Now that, that is clear…. Mom and us slowly walked back up another path heading towards the main building… along the path on both sides were open white layered rocks where more barracks used to stand… the numbers of the barracks set to a plaque in the ground… it was peaceful yet sorrowful…. Making our way to the courtyard once again we turned and started at the heavy footsteps we just walked…. After seeing what we did on the platform I no longer pondered the question… when prisoners outnumber the guards how is there no coup??
COMPASS: I had my own questions that I was pondering when we started walking into the main building… Upon entering I was awestruck at the amount of information displayed respectfully & tactfully about the beginning of the camp and the daily loves of the first political prisoners… But I barely remember seeing or reading anything about Dr. Rascher and his experiments… A small mention near the crematoriums but at that time we were still a bit shaken… so I could be wrong…
COMPASS CONT: Back out into the courtyard we walked freely out of Dachau, unlike many sadly before us… Mom and us walked down towards the car…. As we did so the heaviness started to leave…. But the feeling of utter hopelessness we experienced we still carried with us..
CHAOS: it is a day that I will never forget… I have never in all our experiences in life and travel felt so hopeless and powerless…
HEATHER: Before the ladies say farewell there are a few lessons that we hope you took away from this memory:
CHAOS: First that the 3 psychologists we have seen in our lifetime were wrong…. You are crazy and now WE see things!!
HEATHER: That’s Not Funny!!
CHAOS: Do you hear me laughing??? Do you realize how many times Compass & I practiced this memory so we could do it without breaking down right in the middle….
HEATHER: Yea.. when it’s 3am and I am having nightmares….. CAn we put this one to bed for a bit please….
(Talk to audience) We have 4 lessons which we would like to convey on top of what you have taken from our memory..
Connections are not just to people…. It can be with a place that you know you are meant to see… an experience that locks on to your very essence or all three….
Never trust anyone… especially a politician…. Everyone has an agenda.. Saints want to get into Heaven…. People need to live… Companies want to make money… and here at CompassChaos13.. Our agenda is to have you SO entertained by our real memories and internal commentary (Most of the time) that you donate to us so that we can make more stories from other countries you want to hear about… See everyone has an agenda… some just aren’t as straight forward about it…
It always begins with a calculated breakdown of human empathy…. Followed by the willingness to accept and those determined to tolerate….. That caused the Holocast… When the masses give Authoritarian Personalities with Social Dominance Orientation disorder and a minor power complex, power… minor explodes into full blown hanging on the line of God Complex…. Serious warning sirens should be going off in your head ,,,, Loudspeakers should be blaring .. Danger… Daner… Daner…. These are not to be ignored…. To be led as either a sheep by a shepherd or a lamb to the slaughter… when your instincts tell you something is not right…. 99.9% of the time it is correct…. We just have to start listening to them
Human’s Culture, religion, nationality, color or sex (be it physical, natural, emotional or mental) has nothing to do with anthing…. A PILE OF SHIT IS JUST THAT REGARDLESS OF WHERE IT COMES FROM …
We hope you took away something from this podcast today other than just entertainment, honestly this was a hard one to tell…. Here are the ladies to say their so long for now..
COMPASS (calm, professional tone) On that note… we hope you enjoyed this episode of CompassChaos13. Join us every Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern, or 1300 hours for our fellow travelers in time zones unknown. Next stop: Prague, Czech Republic — we will be adventuring with [MOM , and you can bet we’ll be forging even more unforgettable connections.
CHAOS (excited, playful) Oh, it’s another good one! I’ll be the one causing total mayhem after making inappropriate comments once again and making — and somehow, we still make it out alive. But hey, the chaos? Always memorable.
COMPASS (mock patience) Listeners, help me out here — please engage with us. Share your travel tales, lessons, and even your “what-was-I-thinking” moments. Tell us where you found connection through chaos — or where you just found chaos. We can help you find the humor….
CHAOS (interrupting, smirking) Or let me make it worse!
COMPASS (cutting in, mock sigh) No… just stop. The show’s over. Head down on the desk until next time. I’m Compass — bringing the planned direction.
CHAOS (proudly) And I’m Chaos — bringing the unexpected!
COMPASS: Together, we make global connections.
HEATHER (narrator / flight attendant tone) Welcome back to the present. On behalf of your dueling hosts, Compass and Chaos, thank you for adventuring with CompassChaos13.
Before you stand, please make sure your pants are dry, your eyes are clear, and your snots are wiped — we don’t do refunds for emotional turbulence.
Some of what you heard today may sound unbelievable, but rest assured — it’s all true, and no one on this adventure is innocent.
For photos, travel tips and to read our blogs wander over towww.CompassChaos13.com.
Follow the journey on your favorite podcast platform, and share your story with us using #CompassChaos13 — because the world’s full of chaos, and we’d rather laugh through it together.
Thank you for connecting with us today. We hope your layover in our world brought a little curiosity, a little laughter, and a lot of connection. You ARE TRULY APPRECIATED
This is CompassChaos13 — signing off.