Dachau: Genesis of the Holocaust Concentration Camps

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Dachau In 1933, Heinrich Himmler, the Chief of Police in Munich at the time, conversed with officials of a abandoned gunpowder factory, later, Himmler traveled to this factory to see if it could hold prisoners. In that same year, the first elimination camp was opened. The building of Dachau, concentration camp, led to the construction of hundreds of other camps used to eliminate the Jews. The Dachau concentration camp originally held political prisoners, but was made larger to incorporate forced labor and the extermination of the Jewish people. In November 1938, the prohibitive measures against German Jews that had been instituted since Hitler came to power took a violent and deadly turn during “Kristallnacht” (“Crystal Night” or “Night of …show more content…

The camp was divided into two sections — the camp area and the crematoria area. The camp area consisted of 32 barracks, including one for clergy imprisoned for opposing the Nazi regime and one reserved for medical experiments. The camp administration was located in the gatehouse at the main entrance. The camp area had a group of support buildings, containing the kitchen, laundry, Nguyen 5 showers, and workshops, as well as a prison block (Bunker). The courtyard between the prison and the central kitchen was used for the summary execution of prisoners. An electrified barbed-wire fence, a ditch, and a wall with seven guard towers surrounded the camp (“Dachau Concentration Camp” 2) Looking at the methods used in the Dachau concentration camp, you can see their obvious influence on the future concentration camps used by the Nazi regime, overpopulation and disease were rampant, the S.S guards abused and killed thousands of Jews, all staples of the horrors the Nazis committed, hopefully, the world will never have to experience these atrocities

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