Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany
(all photographs by J. Gerencher)

During March, 1933, the "concentration camp," Dachau, near Munich, was opened to receive critics of the Nazi regime.  Dachau was the first concentration camp and served as a model for those to follow.  It was expanded and used for training the administration of other camps that were being opened throughout the conquered territories.  It was liberated by American troops in 1945.

The main gate and administrative building for Dachau.

Gate with sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei."
English translation: "Work Makes You Free."

Electrified barbed-wire fence (left) and solid wall (right)
capped by electrified barbed-wire, on perimeter of camp.
Guard tower in distance.

Barbed-wire at base of electrified barbed-wire fence.

Interior of prison block within the camp.

Crematorium block.

Ovens for disposing of bodies.

Details of oven construction.

Sculpture in camp in front of museum.

  On 29 April 1945 American soldiers liberated over 30,000 starving prisoners from the camp.