Dachau Concentration Camp
Himmler, Heinrich
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Alternate file
Alternative Title
Konzentrationslager (KZ) Dachau
Date
1933-1945Description
Commemorative mass grave dedicated to the unknown dead at Dachau; It was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany, intended to hold political prisoners. It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory southeast of the medieval town of Dachau. Opened in 1933 by Heinrich Himmler, its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, ordinary German and Austrian criminals, and eventually foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. In the postwar years the Dachau facility served to hold SS soldiers awaiting trial. After 1948, it held ethnic Germans who had been expelled from eastern Europe and were awaiting resettlement, and also was used for a time as a United States military base during the occupation. It was finally closed for use in 1960. There are several religious memorials within the Memorial Site, which was formed in the 1960s. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 8/26/2015)
Type of Work
historic site; concentration campSubject
architecture, military or war, Holocaust, World War, 1939-1945, Nazi Party, Twentieth century
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only