Dachau Facts for Kids

Dachau is a city in the south of Germany, about 20 km (12.4 mi) north-west of Munich. It has about 40,000 inhabitants. The town contains a historic town centre with an 18th century castle.

Dachau was founded in the 8th century. In 1933, a concentration camp was built in Dachau. It was the first camp of the Nazis and became the prototype for all other camps. More than 30,000 prisoners died, or were killed.

Images for kids

Aerial photo of the Dachau complex with the actual concentration camp on the left
The camp commander gives a speech to prisoners about to be released as part of a pardoning action near Christmas 1933.
Heinrich Himmler (front right, beside prisoner) inspecting Dachau Concentration Camp on 8 May 1936.
German concentration camps: Auschwitz, Oranienburg, Mauthausen and Dachau in "The Polish White Book", New York (1941).
The gate at the Jourhaus building through which the prisoners' camp was entered contains the slogan, Arbeit macht frei, or 'Work Sets You Free.'
Roll-call of Jewish prisoners (wearing Star of David badges), 20 July 1938
Prisoners' barracks in 1945
Polish prisoners in Dachau toast their liberation from the camp. Poles constituted the largest ethnic group in the camp during the war, followed by Russians, French, Yugoslavs, Jews, and Czechs.
Priest Friedrich Hoffman testifies at the trial of former camp personnel and prisoners from Dachau. In his hand he holds records showing that hundreds of priests died at the camp after being exposed to malaria during Nazi medical experiments.
SS Guards arriving at the Dachau "Protective Custody" Camp 27 May 1933 (Photo: Friedrich Franz Bauer)
SS men confer with General Henning Linden (man with helmet, looking to his right) during the camp's liberation (29 April 1945)
Female prisoners at Dachau wave to their liberators
Photograph allegedly showing an unauthorized execution of SS troops in a coal yard in the area of the Dachau concentration camp during its liberation—part of the Dachau liberation reprisals. 29 April 1945 (U.S. Army photograph)
Liberated Dachau camp prisoners cheer U.S. troops
Adolf Eichmann on trial in 1961
Dr. Hans Eisele in American internment
Memorial sculpture by Nandor Glid erected in 1968
Orthodox chapel in the memorial.
Aerial photo of the memorial in 2012
Reconstructed shack with bunk beds (October 2011)

Dachau facts for kids

Images for kids

See also