Rescue of prisoners in dachau

In this last post we are going to talk about how the prisioners were rescue, who helped them and what kind of things did they have to do to get through the trauma in a better way. Because being a prisioner in a  concentration camp could have the same trauma that soldiers had when they return from war. 

There was many troops from differents countries who libereted the prisioners from the camps of cocentration, but in the case of Dachau who did it was the American troop. Although the Germans had tried to clear the camps of the surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, Allied soldiers found thousands of bodies "piled up like bundles of firewood" according to one American soldier. So the Germans can avoid the atrocities they did.The prisoners that were still alive were living skeletons and needed a lot of care to get better.

There was a US Army journalist, that described what he saw at Dachau: "There were something like a dozen bodies in the dirty freight car, both men and women. They had gone so long without food that their dead dolls were broomsticks ending in claws. They were the victims of a deliberate starvation diet..."

Allied troops, medics, and relief workers attempted to feed the surviving prisoners, but many were too weak to digest food and could not be saved. Despite the efforts of the liberators, many survivors of the camps died in the first days. 

There are news that said survivors react in different ways to their regained freedom. While some looked forward to being reunited with other family members, others felt guilty for surviving when so many of their family and friends had died. There was a psychiatrist who indicated that some feel overwhelmed by the situation. 

In this picture we can see how the American Army entered to the dachau camp to rescue the prisioners

During the rescue operations, American troops worked tirelessly to provide medical assistance to the prisoners. Many of them were suffering from malnutrition and diseases due to inhumane conditions they had endured. The soldiers distributed supplies to prisoners to regain strength.

Among the courageous who aided in the rescue efforts were military doctors and nurses. They provided physical ailments and tend to the psychological well-being. They encountered challenges confronting the harrowing stories of the victims.

In addition to the personnel, there were also chaplains and relief workers who offered emotional support and spiritual guidance to the liberated ones. Also they provided solace listening experiences and encouraging comfort during their transition.

Recovering from the trauma was a long process for survivors. The psychological scars ran deep. Psychiatrists employed different techniques with their overwhelming emotions (group therapies, individual counseling, and art therapy).

Besides, efforts were to reunite the survivors with their families. Organizations dedicated to locate the separate relatives, offering hope amidst the tragedy.

Despite the challenges faced , the determination to rebuild their lives prevailed. Many survivors kept sharing their stories, ensuring that the atrocities committed in concentration camps will never be forgotten. Their testimonies served as reminder of the importance of  the preservation of human dignity

In this picture we can see how survivors of Dachau celebrate their freedom thanks to the american soldiers

References:

- United States Holocaust memorial museum (2021) Liberación

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/es/article/liberation 

- Infobae (2022) A 90 años de la apertura de Dachau: el campo de exterminio que fue el banco de prueba para el horror nazi

https://www.infobae.com/historias/2022/04/29/el-estremecedor-video-de-la-liberacion-de-dachau-el-dia-que-obligaron-a-los-civiles-alemanes-a-ver-el-horror-del-nazismo/

Group video

On this opportunity, some group members are presenting the chosen topic for this blog, the one we've been working on throughout this semester. The reality of Dachau, Nazi concentration camp. We hope this information serves as a tool to sensitize the world of these past events and to inspire action and social change by encouraging people to promote human rights. It is our duty "To honor the dead and to remind the living" 

https://youtu.be/Q7w5paUCfX8

German priests in a Nazi concentration camp

 

(1915- 1945)

Karl Leisner was a priest who was born in Germany in 1915 and, grow up in the city of Cléveris. Since he was a child he felt the calling of being a pristhood so for that reaseon he entered to the seminar in Munich at the young age of 19 years old. 

In november of 1939 Leisner was arrested by nazi police because one of his partners gave him away saying he criticized hitler. So for that reason on december 14 of 1941 he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp. 

References: 

- Aciprensa. Conoce al Beato Karl Leisner: Ordenado sacerdote en un campo de concentración nazi (2021).

https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/la-increible-historia-de-un-sacerdote-ordenado-en-un-campo-de-concentracion-nazi-28472 

(1913-2016)

Hermann Scheipers was the last priest to leave the Dachau concentration camp alive. He traveled the world for years talking about his experience, always pinned to his lapel a piece of striped cloth from his prisoner outfit and a red triangle, the code by which political prisoners and priests were identified in the camp .

In Dachau evil was irrational, but so was good, as in the case of those who gave their lives as an offering to others. Today every time I raise the Eucharist I think of that priest who gave me his bread when he was dying, while speaking of the disciples of Emmaus. 

References: 

- Alfa & Omega. El último sacerdote alemán superviviente en Dachau (2022). Fe y vida.

https://alfayomega.es/el-ultimo-sacerdote-aleman-superviviente-en-dachau/

(1916-2007)

Monsignor Kazimierz Majdanski was arrested by the Nazis when he was a student at the Wloclawek seminary on November 7, 1939, along with other students and teachers, and imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, at first, and later in Dachau.

There he was subjected to criminal pseudoscientific experiments. After the war, he was ordained a priest in Paris. His superiors later sent him to continue his studies in Friborg, Switzerland. Returning to Poland, he was appointed vice-rector of the seminary, auxiliary bishop of Wroclawek, and archbishop of Stettino-Kamien. He participated in the working sessions of the Vatican Council II and in 1975 founded the pioneering Institute for Family Studies in Lomianki.

References:

- Zenit. Habla un sacerdote superviviente al campo de concentración de Dachau (2004).

https://es.zenit.org/2004/05/02/habla-un-sacerdote-superviviente-al-campo-de-concentracion-nazi-de-dachau/ 

(1914-1943)

Alois Andritzki was a young Sorbian chaplain who died as a result of brutal treatment by priests in the Dachau concentration camp. His death was probably caused by a lethal injection. Andritzki was dying at the time, a victim of typhus contracted at Dachau. To the concentration camp administration, he was just a bothersome worry weighing them down, for which he was simply eliminated. Alois Andritzki will be the first Serb and another Schoenstatt priest to be beatified

References:

- Schoenstatt.org. El mártir que caminaba sobre sus manos (2011).

https://www.schoenstatt.org/es/vida/testimonio/2011/04/el-martir-que-caminaba-sobre-sus-manos/#:~:text=Alois%20Andritzki%20(1914-1943%20era,tifus%20que%20contrajo%20en%20Dachau.

Documentary

Here we present the documentary called : ¨The Horrific Torture of the Prisoners of Dachau¨, explaining the degraiting conditions the prisoners lived in, their everyday work. They also mention how did the soldiers of the Nazi regimen took care of the prisioners and what measurements they took at the time. To end with the last days of them being prisoners until their liberation by the US military forces. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/x4ogt7qvlsY 

Medical Experiments in Dachau

Throughout our blog we have been able to mention the different methods of torture and extermination used in these camps towards the prisoners. But those inhumane acts were not the only ones that violated their human rights. Medical experiments performed on prisioners were the most degrading act of humanity.

From 1933 on, the Nazi regimen embraced emphasis on biology as a new career of opportunities to find cure to different diseases. In some concentration camps, such as Dacahu many german physicians conducted painful experiments on prisoners without their permission. Considering the inhumane conditions, lack of consent, and questionable research standards, the results were rejected. Experiments had three main objectives: finding ways of survival of military personnel, testing of drugs and treatments, and the advancement of Nazi biological goals.

The many kinds of medical experiments carried on were with human victims, prisioners whom were never volunteers but were forced to submit to such acts. Beginning 1942, the experiments conducted at Dachau covered a wide range of topics, from hypothermia resistance tests to sterilization experiments. One of the known experiments was the "hypothermia experiment", in which prisoners were exposed to extremely low temperatures to study the effects of cold on the human body and also trying to find a way on helping soldiers who fell in oceans. Sterilization experiments in which surgical procedures were performed and chemical substances were applied in order to castrate or sterilize the prisoners. They were also performed on women and young girls aged 14 years affecting their reproductive systems for life by limiting them from reaching their maximum development.

Also studies were conducted focusing on malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. Malaria experiments in Dachau were conducted by Dr. Klaus Schilling between 1941 and 1945.The victims were either bitten by mosquitoes or given injections of malaria sporozoites taken from mosquitoes.  Different kinds of treatment were applied, including quinine, pyrifer, neosalvarsan, antipyrin, pyramidon 400 prisioners died from the malaria itself. 350 died later from diseases which proved fatal because of the physical condition resulting from the malaria attacks.  In addition there were deaths resulting from poisoning due to overdoses of neosalvarsan and pyramidon.

Some others experiments were also: Gas Poisoning Experiments where Prisoners were exposed to various poisonous gases, such as mustard gas, phosphine gas, and sarin gas, to study the lethal effects and develop countermeasures, Saltwater Desalination Resistance Experiments witch Prisoners were subjected to the ingestion of saltwater to investigate the human body's capacity to survive without fresh water, Amputation Experiments where Amputations and experimental surgeries were performed without proper anesthesia to study tissue regeneration and test new surgical methods.

These experiments were part of the Nazi eugenics policy, which sought to promote a supposed "Aryan race" and eliminate those considered "inferior", thats why within the framework of the “Euthanasia Actions” doctors “selected” sick prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp who could no longer work. More than 2,500 prisoners were killed with toxic gas by the staff of the Center. 

Medical experiments at Dachau constituted gross violations of human rights and basic ethical principles. After the war, hard measurements were taken many of the doctors involved in these experiments were tried and convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Nuremberg Doctors' Trials in 1946-1947, also The Nuremberg Code was created after the discovery of the camp experiments, this included the principle of informed consent and required standards for research which is used nowadays to respect ethical principles and human rights in all kinds and forms.

Prisioner during malaria trials (1943)

Nuremeberg Doctor's Trials (1947)

References:

1. Nazi Medical Experiments. (n.d.). https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-medical-experiments
2. La historia del Campo de Concentración de Dachau 1933- 1945 - KZ Gedenkstätte Dachau. (2020, April 1). KZ Gedenkstätte Dachau. https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/es/sitio-historico/campo-de-concentracion-1933-1945/

Hans Beimler: from communist deputy to prisoner in dachau

 

(1895- 1936)

In this opportunity we are going to talk about a german communist who managed to avoid dying in Dachau. Hans Beimler was a communist activist who was prisioner in Dachau that in many occasions  was almost pressured by the guards to commit suicide, there were days in where they enter to his cell trying to help him, indicating how he can hang himself with a piece of the blanket. 

Beimler was among the tens of thousands of opponents of the Nazis who, in the spring of 1933, were confined in temporary camps like the one in Dachau. The nazis captured Hans because he was considered an extremely dangerous Bolshevik. Despite all the brave things he did against the nazis; on April 25, 1933 Beimler he was on his way to Dachau, but not as a revolutionary leader, as he had anticipated, but as a prisoner of the SS. 

He was one of the many individuals who were detained in temporary camps as part of the Nazi regime's efforts to imprison and silence their political opponents. 

Beimler's story sheds the light on the harsh conditions and constant threats faced by political prisoners in the concentration camps. His resilience in face of the attempts to break his spirit exemplifies the strength of those who opposed the Nazi regime. Through his survival, Beimler stands as a testament to the human capacity for resistance and as reminder of the atrocities committed during this dark period in history.

Hans Beimler is considered a symbol of anti-fascist resistance and international solidarity in Germany and in the fight against fascism in Spain. His name has been associated with various organizations, streets, and monuments in his honor. 

References: 

- Critica (2015) HISTORIA DE LOS CAMPOS DE CONCENTRACIÓN NAZIS https://www.planetadelibros.com/libros_contenido_extra/31/30916_KL.pdf