Img. ID: 494948

Stone 90

DACHAU 

THE FIRST OF THE THIRD REICH’S CONCENTRATION
CAMPS, DACHAU, LOCATED TEN MILES FROM MUNICH
WAS TO BE THE MODEL FOR THOSE THAT FOLLOWED.
ITS OPENING IN MARCH 1933 WAS ANNOUNCED AT
A PRESS CONFERENCE BY HEINRICH HIMMLER, LATER
APPOINTED TO DIRECT HITLER’S FINAL SOLUTION
OF THE JEWISH QUESTION. 

AT FIRST THE CAMP RECEIVED POLITICAL OPPONENTS
OF THE NAZI PARTY, THEN JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES,
GYPSIES, HOMOSEXUALS, AND CLERGY. THE SYSTEMATIC
PERSECUTION OF JEWS IN NOVEMBER 1938 BROUGHT
MORE THAN 10,000 JEWS TO DACHAU FROM WHERE
MANY WERE INITIALLY RELEASED WITH PROOF OF
INTENT TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY DURING WORLD WAR
II. JEWISH PRISONERS WERE EITHER TRANSPORTED
TO DEATH CENTERS OR REMAINED AT DACHAU
SUBJECT TO PSEUDO-MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS AND
THE BRUTALITY OF SS OFFICERS. 

BY THE TIME U.S. TROOPS REACHED THE INMATES
OF DACHAU ON APRIL 29, 1945, MORE THAN 40,000
PEOPLE HAD BEEN KILLED. 80 TO 90 PERCENT OF
THEM JEWS.