Dachau worker biography

Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in , shortly after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Located in southern Germany, Dachau was initially a camp for political prisoners, but it eventually evolved into a death camp where countless thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease and overwork—or were executed. Additionally, some Dachau detainees were subjected to brutal medical experiments by the Nazis.

Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Nazi Germany on January 30, , and in March of that year, Heinrich Himmler announced the first concentration camp , which opened in the town of Dachau, just outside Munich, a medieval city in southern Germany. The camp initially housed political prisoners, and its first group of detainees consisted primarily of socialists and communists.

Did you know? In , a memorial site was created on the grounds of the former Dachau concentration camp. Today, visitors can tour some of the camp's historic buildings and access a library and special exhibits containing materials related to Dachau's history.

Dachau worker biography: Dachau was one of the first

From the start, camp detainees were subjected to harsh treatment. On May 25, , Sebastian Nefzger, a Munich schoolteacher, was beaten to death while imprisoned at Dachau. The SS administrators who operated the camp claimed that Nefzger had committed suicide, but an autopsy disclosed that he likely lost his life due to asphyxiation or strangulation.

The prosecutor was immediately overruled by Hitler, who issued an edict stating that Dachau and all other concentration camps were not subject to German law as it applied to German citizens.