Das Ende von Dachau – “The End of Dachau, ” by Johann Steinbock. Published by Österreichischer Kulturverlag, Salzburg – 1948. A unique publication documenting the final weeks in the Dachau camp before and after its liberation by the Allied forces, written by a camp prisoner. German.
“‘The end of the Dachau camp itself has not yet been described authentically in any book. Therefore, this account, previously omitted, will be presented here, detailing the final weeks before and after the American occupation… Since I was among those who were not liberated, and since I also escaped from the last evacuation transport, I experienced the end of Dachau firsthand in Dachau itself, and I wish to describe it as I saw it. Naturally, this will be an account from the perspective of a single prisoner who cannot grasp the full picture… Nevertheless, any honest glimpse into the rich fabric of experiences from the end of Dachau will be of interest’” (from the introduction).
Johann Steinbock (1894–1962), an Austrian Catholic priest, was arrested on September 15, 1941, in Linz on charges of being a member of the Austrian Freedom Movement. The freedom movements in Austria included several groups, and during his interrogations he was each time accused by his interrogators of belonging to a different one. In January 1942, he was sent to Dachau and became prisoner no. 29112. He was assigned to Block 26 and taken to forced labor clearing snow and ice with wheelbarrows, running under constant threat. Steinbock remained in the camp for approximately three years until his liberation by the Allied forces, and the main part of the book is devoted to the final weeks in the camp. In his book, he describes the fear that swept through the prisoners when they learned that Buchenwald had been captured by the Americans and that Himmler had consequently ordered that no prisoner in the other camps was to fall into American hands alive. He describes a period of complete chaos in the camp. As the Allied forces drew closer, the Nazis evacuated other camps and transferred thousands of prisoners to Dachau, which was already overcrowded. The camp became a death trap: on the one hand, a typhus epidemic spread rapidly due to overcrowding and contagion; on the other, the prisoners knew that liberation was near and struggled desperately not to succumb to the disease in the final moments. However, the terrible overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions led to a violent outbreak of the disease, which claimed hundreds of victims each day in the weeks before liberation. One of the most harrowing events was the arrival of a transport train from Buchenwald a few days before liberation. Of the thousands of prisoners who had set out, the vast majority arrived as corpses due to hunger, cold, and disease. In late April 1945, the prisoners’ greatest fear was the “extermination order”: rumors spread among them that the SS planned to bomb the camp from the air or poison the prisoners in order to leave no witnesses alive. The prisoners observed a change in the guards’ behavior; some became more brutal out of desperation, while others tried to flee or conceal their identities. Steinbock describes how, during those weeks, the Nazis burned an enormous number of files in order to destroy evidence that documented what had taken place in the camp during the years of its operation. From the burning of these materials alone, the entire area of the camp was filled with smoke for several days.
The liberation itself was accompanied by violent and frightening events that did not cease even with the arrival of the Americans: units of the 42nd and 45th Divisions of the U.S. Army encountered German resistance near the camp gates. SS men who had not managed to flee in time sought refuge in the prisoners’ barracks themselves.
One of the most moving moments described by Steinbock was the arrival of the first American soldier in the camp: “While everything in the square, and now also in the SS buildings, trembled, an American soldier suddenly waved from the height of the platform of the guard tower and signaled for silence. What followed was one of the most moving scenes of those days of liberation. The crowd fell silent; we all raised our eyes to the soldier, who greeted us in German and wished us well in our liberation. Then he spoke: ‘G-d is still good. Although so many horrors have occurred here, He grants us this day and this hour of redemption. Now that the time has come, it is fitting that we pray!’ He removed his helmet, folded his hands – most of those present in the square uncovered their heads – and spoke aloud: ‘Almighty G-d, we thank You for the victory and the protection You have given us!…’” . At the moment of liberation, some of the prisoners who still had strength attacked the guards who remained in the camp, an event that added to the atmosphere of chaos and bloodshed. The kapos and block elders (who had regularly abused the prisoners) mostly managed to flee the camp before the Americans entered it. The American soldiers, unprepared for the sights before them – piles of corpses and walking skeletons, reacted with complete shock and anger, which in some cases led to the execution of surrendered guards. Steinbock describes how even after the gates were opened, death continued to strike due to disease and extreme starvation; this was the greatest tragedy, prisoners who had survived for months and years in the camp with superhuman strength met their deaths just days after liberation because of the severe conditions that had worsened in the final months. The Americans did everything they could to try to save those who could be saved; prisoners were transported in Red Cross vehicles, and those whose condition allowed it were vaccinated before being transferred to hospitals for recovery.
58 [2] pages + [1] folded map leaf of the Dachau camp (aerial view). Very good condition.
