D a c h a u Concentration Camp “The first concentration camp for political prisoners.” – Heinrich Himmler, head of Nazi police force. By Tracy C. SS 11: DACHAU Concentration Camp 4/24/2013 Block 2B

Location The SS, the elite guard of the Nazi Party, established the camp in the small town of Dachau.

The Prisoners The first group sent in was those in “protective custody”, consisting of Communists and Social Democrats. Thousands of Jewish prisoners from Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union. Gypsies, who were like the Jewish and classified as racially inferior. Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is a Christian denomination with many beliefs that stand out from mainstream Christianity. Clergymen who opposed the Nazis in forcing control of the churches. Homosexuals, “asocials”, prostitutes and repeat criminals were also imprisoned.

work camp Dachau was a work camp where those imprisoned worked to their deaths. They usually had a life expectancy of 5 months, even if they were not executed. The people no use to the Nazis were either gassed with poison in “showers”, shot, used for medical experiments till death, being beaten, or killed by fatal injections. Many died from diseases and starvation regardless. Prisoners were forced to destroy the old munitions factory in the camp in horrible conditions in the beginning. Many worked 10-14 hours a day. They were used to operate the camp, construct, handicraft, build roads, work in gravel pits, and the drainage of marshland.

conditions Most prisoners were poorly fed. Many had to live off of a bit of coffee/tea and moldy bread for breakfast before they went to work for 10+ hours each day. As many as 1600 prisoners were shoved into barracks with bunk beds meant for 200. Epidemics were unavoidable, and many died due to easily spread illnesses. Live prisoners were used for lab experiments. They often endured excessive bleeding, injections of fatal diseases, live dissections, tuberculosis testing, tryouts of new medicinal remedies, and much more. After death, the corpses were dragged by tongs or ropes to be incinerated in ovens. Prisoners were expected to work, starve, exhaust themselves, and take the hateful beatings of the SS.

The statistics Unfortunately, many prisoners will never be able to be identified from these tragedies. By 1945, ~200,000 prisoners were registered at Dachau Concentration Camp and its sub-camps. 30% in the main camp were Jews. Out that ~200,000, approximately 35,000 of them died at Dachau. ~10,000 died even after the liberation of Dachau.

To survive Many prisoners that were weak to the Nazis died within half an hour of getting off the train that transported them there. An example of who they saw weak were women and children. Only people that were strong and of use to them were accepted and worked till the day they died, usually dying in 5 months from exhaustion and malnutrition. Prisoners who were obedient and well-favored by the Nazis by stealing others, food, spying on their roommates, and many more, were more likely to live due to the use they were to the Nazis. Prisoners who came with skills (ex: blacksmiths, etc) had a better chance of survival, but only for such a long period of time.

Open to Closed The camp opened in 1933 to house political enemies, and closed in 1945, right after the camp was liberated by Americans.

The last few days During the last few days, transports arrived from the camp, carrying the dead. The SS had intended not to lose any prisoners to the Allies, and was on the mindset of killing them all before they were killed by bombs. Prisoners secretly worked together to form an underground committee to stay alive and resist the SS’s plans. April 26, 1945th: Two prisoners from the committee were sent to request help in Dachau when the American troops arrived. Americans were supposed to arrive in Munich first, but changed their plans. The SS forcibly marched 7000 prisoners out of the camp to march south. The Americans soon met with them and the SS fought. Many innocent prisoners died. April 29, 1945th: Dachau was successfully liberated by American troops. Cries of freedom were heard in all languages.

Media Holocaust – Dachau and Sachsenhausen (2005) Liberation Day: Dachau (1999) directed by Caleb Tinbergen Shutter Island based on 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane Histories of the Holocaust: Dachau – State Within a State Books listed below.

Sources http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/dachau.html http://library.thinkquest.org/3300/Consen.html http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/dachau.html http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapbook/overview.html http://stevemorse.org/dachau/intro.htm http://www.kawvalley.k12.ks.us/schools/rjh/marneyg/archived_projects/2000Projects/haileyhoobler00hol.htm http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dachau+concentration+camp&qs=SC&sk=&FORM=QBIR&pq=dachau%20concentratison&sc=8-21&sp=1&qs=SC&sk=