kids encyclopedia robot

Dachau concentration camp facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Dachau
Nazi concentration camp
KZDachau1945.jpg
U.S. soldiers guarding the main entrance to Dachau just after liberation, 1945
Other names German: Konzentrationslager (KZ) Dachau
Location Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
Built by Germany
Operated by Schutzstaffel (SS)
Commandant List of commandants
Original use Political prison
Operational March 1933 – April 1945
Inmates Political prisoners, Poles, Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholic priests, Communists, Romani
Number of inmates Over 188,000 (estimated)
Killed 41,500 (per Dachau website)
Liberated by U.S. Army
Survivors liberation dachau
Dachau survivors in 1945

The Dachau concentration camp was the first World War II Nazi concentration camp. It was built in 1933 by Heinrich Himmler. The main goal was to hold political prisoners. These were people who disagreed with the Nazi government.

Dachau camp was located where an old munitions (weapons) factory used to be. It was about 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of Munich in Bavaria, southern Germany.

Over time, the camp's purpose grew. It became a place for forced labor, where people were made to work without pay. It also held ordinary German and Austrian people accused of crimes. Later, people from other countries that Germany had taken over were sent there. It became a place where many Jews and others suffered greatly, with many losing their lives due to harsh conditions.

Thousands of people died from starvation, disease, or being overworked. The Dachau camp system became very large. It included nearly 100 smaller camps, mostly work camps. These were spread across southern Germany and Austria. U.S. forces freed the camps in the spring of 1945.

How Many People Were Held at Dachau?

Dachau-wachturm
Watch tower

It is hard to know exactly how many people died at Dachau. Many records were removed or burned by the Germans. This happened just weeks before the United States Army arrived.

A few days before the Americans came, Germans started moving prisoners. But they could not move everyone. Some prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp had been sent to Dachau. When the last train carrying them was found, 2,000 of the 4,000 prisoners on it had died.

Between 1933 and the camp's liberation in 1945, about 228,930 prisoners were sent to Dachau. This number includes about 7,000 who had just arrived from Buchenwald. A report from the U.S. Seventh Army also stated a similar number of 229,000 prisoners.

Images for kids

  • Concentration camp dachau aerial view

    Aerial photo of the Dachau complex with the actual concentration camp on the left

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R96361, Dachau, Konzentrationslager

    The camp commander gives a speech to prisoners about to be released as part of a pardoning action near Christmas 1933.

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 152-11-12, Dachau, Konzentrationslager, Besuch Himmlers

    Heinrich Himmler (front right, beside prisoner) inspecting Dachau Concentration Camp on 8 May 1936.

  • 1941 German camps in Polish White Book, German Occupation of Poland

    German concentration camps: Auschwitz, Oranienburg, Mauthausen and Dachau in "The Polish White Book", New York (1941).

  • Arbeit Macht Frei Dachau 8235

    The gate at the Jourhaus building through which the prisoners' camp was entered contains the slogan, Arbeit macht frei, or 'Work Sets You Free.'

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 152-27-13A, Dachau Konzentrationslager, Häftlinge beim Appell

    Roll-call of Jewish prisoners (wearing Star of David badges), 20 July 1938

  • Prisoner's barracks dachau

    Prisoners' barracks in 1945

  • Toasting Polish Dachau

    Polish prisoners in Dachau toast their liberation from the camp. Poles were the largest group in the camp during the war, followed by Russians, French, Yugoslavs, Jews, and Czechs.

  • Friedrich Hoffmann priest

    Priest Friedrich Hoffman testifies at the trial of former camp personnel and prisoners from Dachau. He holds records showing that hundreds of priests died at the camp after being exposed to cruel treatment.

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 152-01-16, KZ Dachau, SS-Wachmannschaft

    SS Guards arriving at the Dachau "Protective Custody" Camp 27 May 1933 (Photo: Friedrich Franz Bauer)

  • Kz dachau liberation person

    SS men talk with General Henning Linden (man with helmet, looking to his right) during the camp's liberation (29 April 1945)

  • Female Dachau Waving

    Female prisoners at Dachau wave to their liberators

  • Dachau execution coalyard 1945-04-29

    Photograph allegedly showing an unauthorized execution of SS troops in a coal yard in the area of the Dachau concentration camp during its liberation. 29 April 1945 (U.S. Army photograph)

  • Prisoners liberation dachau

    Liberated Dachau camp prisoners cheer U.S. troops

  • Adolf Eichmann at Trial1961

    Adolf Eichmann on trial in 1961

  • Hans Kurt Eisele

    Dr. Hans Eisele in American internment

  • Campo de concentración de Dachau, Alemania, 2016-03-05, DD 04

    Memorial sculpture by Nandor Glid erected in 1968

  • Capilla ortodoxa, campo de concentración de Dachau, Alemania, 2016-03-05, DD 27

    Orthodox chapel in the memorial.

  • Dachau Gedenkstätte Aerial

    Aerial photo of the memorial in 2012

  • Dachau Concentration Camp - bunk beds

    Reconstructed shack with bunk beds (October 2011)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Campo de concentración de Dachau para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Dachau concentration camp Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.