Story Behind The Song

The is the opening instrumental for the musical drama "Dachau" This dark piece centers around the post-war Dachau trials where scenes of torture and inhumanity are relived through inmate testimonials.

Song Description

(The stage is empty, as the music begins the dance level becomes animated as the shadows of barbed wire and the gate above Dachau prison become more pronounced while the courtroom below remains dark. There is the stark sound of a train whistle as New Camp inmates arrive from stage right, are forced into lines by German soldiers, some are are beaten to death right there, some shot in the head, others forced off upstage into a dark shadow of a building. carts full of bodies are wheeled across the dancefloor, to the crematorium up left, a mother and her daughter are torn apart--the mother taken by the soldiers for apparent sexual favors, the daughter pulled away to the dark building and lost. Another train whistle and more prisoners arrive, more carts of bodies are pulled into the yard, another group of prisoners, are marched, shuffling, past the new prisoners and upstage followed by several german soldiers. the prisoners stand in a line and are executed by the germans with machine guns. Their bodies fall to the floor, nobody cares.