"We haven't come here to be friendly with
these sons of a bitch. They are not humans
like we are, they're only second class
people."
            Baron von Malsen-Ponickau
                        SS Commander
    On April 11, 1933 the Prison Camp at Dachau, 10 miles
outside Munich, was handed over to the SS for use as a
Concentration Camp. It was the first of many concentration camps
set up to process individuals and groups who were seen by Hitler
as inferior. Before this time the camp had been used by the
Munich Police as a labor camp for those who broke the law.
However, the new operators of the camp had different ideas as to
its use and the persons who would reside therein. This famed
Nazi camp would be in operation until 1945 when Germany lost
World War II.
    Initially the camp was used to detain political prisoners,
much in the same way that other camps on Germany's soil were
used. In March 1933, Communists were the first political
prisoners to be brought to Dachau, although the camp was still
being used by the Munich Police. They were kept in one of the
factories that was present on camp grounds, later these building
would be used to train SS troops and officers. These political
prisoners were the first wave of persecution in Germany, others
would quickly follow.
    In the late 1930's the Nazi persecution of the Jews began in
ernest, Dachau (both the camp and the town) were to be silent
partners in this venture. Dachau was a unique camp, it contained
many things which other camps, located on German soil, did not
have.  Among these are the SS training center (mentioned above),
Medical centers, these were used to perform varied experiments on
prisoners of the camp.  They were used to select which drugs
worked most effectively to combat disease on the lines. To find
the exact stress point of a human body (by this I mean to find
out how far they can push someone both mentally and physically).
But the most horrendous of all the experiments, were those to
find the cheapest, fastest and best way to kill large quantities
of people.  Also located in the medical center at Dachau was a
gas chamber, so that the SS could verify their findings on these
experimental lethal gases.
    Although Dachau was initially supposed to be a
"Concentration Camp" in every sense of the word (a focal point
for prisoners, who would be transported to camps outside Germany
proper), it soon became apparent that it was also a "Death Camp"
(like those in Poland, only not set up to kill in numbers).
Dachau could not handle all of the prisoners who died there on a
daily basis. The crematorium at the camp could only handle about
1000 bodies per year, and deaths in the camp soared over this
figure. During the days following liberation in May 1945, there
were 3000 corpses piled in the yard near the crematorium, another
3000 (approx.) would die within the month. It is never mentioned
what happened to all the dead at Dachau, it would only be fair to
assume they were buried in mass graves, when they could not be
incinerated.
    Inmates in the camps came from all areas of Europe under
Nazi control, but were eventually moved to other camps to avoid
overcrowding. As stated above, Dachau was used primarily to
organize persons for easier shipment to other and larger
extermination camps. Because of this, trains ran at all hours of
the days, moving prisoners from one place to another.  The only
persons who stayed at Dachau for longer periods of time were
those who worked in and around the camp.  Camp officials used
some of the prisoners to carry out repairs in the town of Dachau,
while others even worked in some of the houses (mostly those of
the officers families) in town as servants. Inmates at Dachau
were restricted to two letter (censored of course)per month,
either sent or received. This had the effect of limiting the
amount of information that left the camp to the families of those
who were kept there. It also had the added advantage of creating
confusion between the persons who were corresponding.  For
instance, the regulations placed on mail at Dachau were very
strict.  If the persons sending the letter had no return address
on the envelope, the letter would not be delivered (or returned),
photographs could not be used as post cards and camp mail was
neither sent nor distributed on a regular basis.  This was
helpful to the SS in many ways. One, if a person was transferred
to another camp, the sender had no way a knowing (transfers to
other camps from Dachau were usually to secret extermination
camps). Two, it made it increasingly difficult for subversive
information to either enter or leave the camp. All of these
together insured that the outside world had very little
information as to what occurred in these camps.
    The only groups of people who could blow the whistle on the
camps were the people who lived in the towns surrounding the
camps themselves. In recent years, these people have been called
into question. How could anyone who lived around these camps not
know what was going on? One cannot fight such a large
establishment as the SS at Dachau.  The few things that the
people of the town could do however, were to smuggle bread and
potatoes to the prisoners. If these people were caught doing
this, they would suffer the same fate as those whom they were
trying to help.  There are even documented instances were towns
people had paid to much attention to the trains and other
transits coming into the camp, these people disappeared, their
fate can only be imagined. It was for reasons such as this that
many people of the town of Dachau did not try and intervene.
History records these people (not only those who lived in Dachau,
but also those who lived around the other camps) as criminals or
evil, because they did not try to stop the deaths of millions of
human beings. Was it possible to do so?
    At the time of liberation, the camp had over 32,000 inmates
(this does not include the mass quantities of bodies that had not
yet been disposed of). The US 45th and 42nd Army Divisions were
responsible for liberating Dachau, a task for which they are
commended. The soldiers and inmates established a newsletter, to
spread the word of what was happening behind closed doors, gave
the world their first glimpse into the Nazi regime.  However, the
American forces, shocked at the atrocities that occurred within
the camp, executed all SS officers and soldiers as well as the
dogs used to keep prisoners in check.
    Today, Dachau is a place where thousands of tourists come
every year.  They come to see first hand what it was like, and to
learn, lament and study the effects of this camp on the world.
Those who have visited say one can still smell and feel the death
within the camp, or what is left of it. Most of the camp was torn
down and is now a memorial to all those who died there.
    When the time came for the inmates to go home, the "camp
elder" Oskar Muller said:

"We want to build a new Germany for ourselves
and our youth, a Germany of anti-fascism, of
freedom and democracy."

It can be said, that his wish and dream has come true.