| Dachau |
| Established: March 22, 1933 Liberated: April 29, 1945 by United States Survivors: 27,400 at liberation Inmates at one time: 4,800 - 160,000 Total Victims: 32,000 Subcamps: 31 |
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| Dachau was the first official concentration camp of the Nazis. Dachau opened due to massive over-crowding of prisons. The first guards were regular state policemen who did not abuse, humiliate or mistreat prisoners. In 1933, the guards were replaced with SS men. Prisoners in the camp worked in the Dachau bakery, meat-processing plant, or in workshops for machine building, carpentry, painting, tailoring, and shoemaking. In 1934, Dachau became the model for all other Nazi concentration camps. In 1937, prisoners began building the SS complex, industrial center and prison complex at Dachau. Dachau was built to accommodate 5,000 prisoners, but in1942 and subsequent years, the population never fell below 12,000. By 1945, over 30,000 prisoners lived in the main camp. In 1943 a prisoner prostitute and brothel service was set up in the camp to distract political prisoners from activity. Prisoners of Dachau included: political prisoners, criminals, Jews, Gypsies, foreigners, anti-socials, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and privileged prisoners. Prisoners endured constant brutal punishment, exhausting labor, starvation, and medical experiments. (See Medical Experiments) Dachau held the largest number of clergy inmates of any camp - 2,771 clergymen spent time in Dachau. Dachau was liberated by American troops after they stumbled upon a railroad yard and saw a large number of dead bodies in boxcars. Troops quickly moved into Dachau where they were met with little resistance. |