2017-10-31 - KZ Gedenkstaette Dachau

Das KZ Dachau, Vollbezeichnung Konzentrationslager Dachau, amtliche Abkürzung KL Dachau, bestand vom 22. März 1933 bis zu seiner Befreiung durch Soldaten der 7. US-Armee am 29. April 1945. Das NS-Regime errichtete es bereits wenige Wochen nach Adolf Hitlers Machtergreifung. Es war das erste ununterbrochen betriebene KZ und wurde dadurch eines der bekanntesten Konzentrationslager. Es war zwölf Jahre durchgehend in Betrieb, d. h. mehr als doppelt so lange wie die meisten späteren Konzentrationslager.

Dachau concentration camp was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in 1933, intended to hold political prisoners. It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 mi) northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany. After its opening by Heinrich Himmler, its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and, eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, German and Austrian criminals, and finally foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps, which were mostly work camps or Arbeitskommandos, and were located throughout southern Germany and Austria. The camps were liberated by U.S. forces on 29 April 1945.