Plate 11: Reconstructed barrack block (contemporary photograph)
Two grey-coloured reconstructions of the former barrack blocks now dominate the former Roll Call Square at Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. These reconstructions are faithful to the dimensions of the 34 original barrack blocks, four of which were functional barracks and the remaining thirty used to accommodate prisoners. The prisoners built the new barrack blocks, completing them in the summer of 1938. They replaced the ten stone barrack blocks from the early days of the protective custody camp in the old German Works factory. The newly built barrack blocks had four sleeping rooms and were designed to accommodate 52 men in each room, with 208 men to a block. Each accommodation barrack had four day-rooms, two sets of toilets and two sets of washing rooms.
Plate 12: Reconstruction of washing facilities inside barrack block (contemporary photograph)
Plate 13: Reconstruction of toilet facilities inside barrack block (contemporary photograph)
The rebuilding programme meant that the capacity of the protective custody camp grew from 2,700 to over 6,000.57 In 1938, when the discipline in the camp in terms of management of the barrack blocks was at its most stringent, there was a maze of rules, which covered almost every aspect of life in the blocks from tidiness and cleanliness of the blocks themselves through to the prisoners’ personal hygiene.58 Breaching these rules would place the prisoners on a collision course with the draconian punishment regulations, which were in operation within the protective custody camp.
From the first days after reconstruction, the barrack blocks were always occupied beyond their capacity. However, this situation significantly worsened from the start of the war. From 1942 onwards, with the influx of prisoners from all over Europe, the blocks were horrendously overcrowded causing disease, illness and death. Days before liberation, many of the barrack blocks held over one thousand men, with 1,800 sick men recorded as occupying block 30. On 26 April 1945, three days before liberation, there were approximately 30,000 prisoners held in the protective custody camp.