Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Munich, Germany

Dachau Concentration Camp was the first Nazi concentration camp established in Germany and serves as a significant historical site and memorial.

Dachau Concentration Camp: Pater-Roth-Straße 2A, 85221 Dachau, Germany
Date Picture Taken: May, 2024

Dachau was opened on March 22, 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler came to power. Initially designed to detain political prisoners, it soon became a model for other concentration camps and expanded its scope to include various groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.

The main gatehouse

The main gatehouse is a large, imposing structure that controlled the entrance to the camp. It was designed to impress upon visitors the authority of the camp while also serving as a checkpoint for those entering and exiting.

The gate bears the slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which translates to “Work Sets You Free.” This slogan was a cruel irony, as it falsely suggested that hard work could lead to freedom. In reality, the camp was a site of severe exploitation, suffering, and death.

The roll call ground

Dachau was a large camp with numerous barracks, administrative buildings, and an extensive perimeter fence. The original layout included barracks for prisoners, a central watchtower, and an area for forced labor.

The building on the right is the jailhouse

The jailhouse

Came back to the main gatehouse

The maintenance building is now used as the museum.

Each dot on the map is the location of each concentration camp.

Chronicle of the Cachau Concentration Camp

The history of Germany, right after World War I and the rise of the Nazis.

This is a model of the camp. It shows that the camp was huge, and the actual preserved camp is only a small part of it.

Pictures of the displays in the museum are later in this blog.

Dachau was the first concentration camps established by the Nazis in 1933, near Munich in Germany.

Dachau was initially set up to hold political prisoners, but it soon expanded to include a wide variety of detainees, including Jews, Romani people, homosexuals, disabled individuals, and other groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.

The camp became a model for other concentration camps in terms of organization and brutality. Prisoners were subjected to forced labor, malnutrition, disease, and brutal treatment by the guards. Dachau also served as a training ground for SS personnel, who later went on to work in other camps.

Dachau was liberated by American forces in April 1945. After the war, the site was used for various purposes, including a displaced persons camp and later a memorial and museum to educate about the horrors of the Holocaust. Today, it stands as a somber reminder of the atrocities committed during the Nazi regime and serves as a place of remembrance and education.

The camp contained multiple barracks where prisoners were housed. These barracks were designed to be cramped and uncomfortable, with minimal space and poor ventilation. Each barrack typically housed hundreds of prisoners. 

Only the foundation for the barracks exists now.

Dachau was initially designed as a military barracks, which influenced its early layout. The camp was surrounded by a high barbed-wire fence and was divided into several sections, including administrative buildings, barracks, a roll call area, and a crematorium.

The house behind the fenced door is the Crematorium. 

The crematorium area is one of the most harrowing parts of the memorial. It includes the ovens where bodies were burned and a gas chamber that was built but, according to historical records, was not used for mass killings at Dachau.

After closing, I came to this area, so I could not go inside.

Various religious memorials have been erected on the site, reflecting the diverse faiths of the prisoners who suffered and died here.

Protestant Church of Reconciliation

Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel

Jewish Memorial

Two reconstructed barracks give visitors an understanding of the cramped and inhumane living conditions.

The museum

About what happened in Germany after World War I

About Dachau Concentration Camp

This was the first concentration camp, and it was mainly for political prisoners.

Shortly after the beginning, this place was not only for political prisoners.

The camp brought in criminals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Homosexuals, Emigrants, Jewish, and Gypsies.

The living conditions in the camp

Expansion of the Concentration Camp System

Murdering of Prisoners

The Final Solution

The camps near Dachau