It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the N.E. part of the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich in southern Germany. During the first start of the camp, it held about 4,800 prisoners
In early 1937, the SS, using prisoner labor, began construction of a large complex of buildings on the grounds of the original camp. Prisoners were forced to do this work, starting with the destruction of the old munitions factory, under terrible conditions. The Dachau camp was seen as a training center for SS concentration camp guards. The camp's organization and routine became the model for all Nazi concentration camps. When Kristallnacht time came, more than 10,000 Jewish men entered the camp.
The camp eventually evolved into a death camp where countless thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease, and overwork or were executed. German physicians performed medical experiments on prisoners, including high-altitude experiments using a decompression chamber, malaria and tuberculosis experiments, hypothermia experiments, and experiments testing new medications. Prisoners were also forced to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding.In addition to Jews, the camp’s prisoners included members of other groups Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany, including artists, intellectuals, the physically and mentally handicapped and homosexuals. Thousands of prisoners were worked to death.
The camp eventually evolved into a death camp where countless thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease, and overwork or were executed. German physicians performed medical experiments on prisoners, including high-altitude experiments using a decompression chamber, malaria and tuberculosis experiments, hypothermia experiments, and experiments testing new medications. Prisoners were also forced to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding.In addition to Jews, the camp’s prisoners included members of other groups Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany, including artists, intellectuals, the physically and mentally handicapped and homosexuals. Thousands of prisoners were worked to death.
On April 29, 1945, American forces liberated Dachau. There had been at least 28,000 known registered deaths, not including the number of deaths between the years 1933 and the end of 1939, as well as an uncounted number of unregistered prisoners death.
Many people forget that not all the deaths were documented and just take the registered deaths a the official numbers of prisoners killed. While I had hear about this camp briefly both in and out of class, your post has helped inform me on the subject.
ReplyDeleteYesterday in class, we watched as Monika presented the few belongings that she has kept that Amon Goeth had. We talked about what how we would feel if the things we had or used actually came from tortured, murdered people.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioning that they had done experiments on tuberculosis and malaria got me thinking, what if some of the scientific advancements that we have today to prevent and cure things like TB and Malaria were thanks to the Nazi experiments done on these prisoners? It's an interesting thing to think about, honestly.