train tracks at Dachau

Tracks on the right, near the entrance to Dachau camp

Many visitors to the Dachau Memorial site assume that the tracks near the entrance were used to bring train loads of Jews right up to the Arbeit Macht Frei gate.  Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to take a close-up of these tracks because I didn’t anticipate that so many bloggers would mistakenly write about the prisoners arriving at the camp on trains.

Looking toward the SS camp at Dachau

The photo above shows the tracks and the loading dock on the left side; this photo was taken with my back to the entrance gate, looking toward the SS camp that was right next to the concentration camp.  The prisoners walked along the brick road on the left as they entered the camp.

I borrowed the photo below from the “windy wilsons” blog which you can read here.

The tracks at Dachau Photo credit: windy wilsons blog

Notice that these are narrow-gauge tracks that were used for small carts carrying materials to the factories that were formerly just outside the gates of the concentration camp.  The prisoners actually arrived at the train station in the town of Dachau and they had to walk to the camp.  The two photos at the top of the page show the red brick road on which the prisoners walked into the camp.  The mounds of grass are the piles of rubble from the factories after they were torn down.