Dachau

“Work Makes You Free”

Q: What is A COncentration Camp?

A: The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy. Inhumane treatment and neglect to the point of death was common.

Dachau IS A CONCENTRATION

CAMP

Dachau

Crematorium

Established in March 1933, the Dachau concentration camp was the first regular concentration camp established by the National Socialist (Nazi) government. Heinrich Himmler, in his capacity as police president of Munich, officially described the camp as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners.”

Dachau

(above) Human remains found in the Dachau concentration camp crematorium after liberation. Germany, April 1945.

In 1942, the crematorium area was constructed next to the main camp. It included the old crematorium and the new crematorium (Barrack X) with a gas chamber. There is no credible evidence that the gas chamber in Barrack X was used to murder human beings.

Why Dachau?

In today’s society, we know most everything that happens around the world. The question we must ask

ourselves is: “If concentration camps like Dachau were happening today,

would we do anything to stop them from happening?”

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “The Holocaust.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/?ModuleId=10005143. Accessed on {3-28-2011}.

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