Footsteps of WWII · Western & southern Germany
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
Camp memorial · 22 Mar 1933 – 29 Apr 1945
The story
Dachau opened on 22 March 1933, weeks after Hitler came to power, as the first regular concentration camp. Its second commandant, Theodor Eicke, drew up the rules, layout and guard training that became the model for the whole camp system, and he went on to run it as inspector of concentration camps. Political opponents came first, then Jews, Roma, clergy, homosexuals and, during the war, prisoners from more than 30 countries; around 200,000 passed through it and its subcamps. Tens of thousands died of starvation, disease, abuse and execution, many in the typhus epidemic of the final months. Units of the US 45th and 42nd Infantry Divisions liberated the main camp on 29 April 1945.
What to look for
The roll-call square, the maintenance building with the main exhibition, two reconstructed barracks and the foundations of the rest, the bunker (camp prison), the 'Arbeit macht frei' gate, and the crematorium area with the gas chamber, plus religious memorials at the far end.
Plan your visit
Open daily 9:00–17:00 (crematorium area until 16:30), closed 24 December. Admission free. English guided tours daily at 11:00 and 13:00; audio guides available; groups should book. Allow at least three hours.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- NS-Documentation Centre, Munich · 16 km
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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