Dachau

    Opened in 1933 to accomodate 5,000 people, Dachau was the first official concentration camp opened by the Nazis. Dachau was opened on the grounds of an explosives factory built during WWI. Prisoner labor built a large SS complex and industrial center, as well as a new and advanced prison complex, completed on August 15, 1938. By 1945 over 30,000 prisoners were housed in the main camp at Dachau. Dachau had its own museum, library, angora rabbit farm, and brothel service. (1)
     Bewteen 1933 and 1945, approximately 225,000 prisoners had passed through the camp. Most of the inmates of the camp were politicals until late 1938. After the start of WWII, inmates of the camp included criminals, Jews, Gypsies, foreigners, antisocials, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and "privileged prisoners." (2)
     Medical experiments at Dachau included the impact of intense air pressure and cold on human beings, seawater and malaria tests, the effects of new drugs, testing of allopathic and homeopathic drugs, castration, artificial insemination, sterilization, and abortion. (3)