Dachau Opens
Dachau was the first regular Nazi concentration camp.
View newspaper articlesOn March 22, 1933, Dachau opened as the first regular Nazi concentration camp. It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich in Bavaria (in southern Germany). Dachau was established initially to incarcerate political prisoners, primarily German Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists, and other political opponents of the Nazi regime. During its first year, the camp held about 4,800 prisoners.
Though it was not one of the extermination camps later established by the Germans to kill European Jews during World War II, Dachau was a training center for SS concentration camp guards; the camp's organization and routine became a model for all Nazi concentration camps.
Newspaper Articles about this Event
343 articles in 230 newspapers
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Will Open Prison Camps
, The Nebraska State Journal/Lincoln Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska -
Camps Used By Nazis to Convert Foes
, The Ithaca Journal/ Ithaca Journal-News, Ithaca, New York -
Communists Killed In Germany
, The Portsmouth Herald/The Portsmouth Herald and Times, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Learn More about this Historical Event
- Dachau (Encyclopedia Article)
- Nazi Camps (Encyclopedia Article)
Bibliography
Berben, Paul. Dachau, 1933-1945: The Official History. London: Norfolk Press, 1975.
International Dachau Committee. The Dachau Concentration Camp, 1933 to 1945: Text and Photo Documents from the Exhibition. Dachau: Comite´ International de Dachau, 2005.
Marcuse, Harold. Legacies of Dachau: The Uses and Abuses of a Concentration Camp, 1933-2001. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Neurath, Paul. The Society of Terror: Inside the Dachau and Buchenwald Concentration Camps. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2005.
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