Timeline of the Dachau Camp
· Opening: March 20, 1933
o Located 10 miles northwest of Munich and in southern Germany, Dachau was the first concentration camp established and was also operated the longest (1933 to 1945). The first prisoners arrived on March 21 and they were primarily opponents of the Nazi party.
· Exempted from Judicial Authority: May 25, 1933
o Adolf Hitler passes an order which ends all legal proceedings resulting from deaths in Dachau. After the death of a school principal, Sebastian Nefzger, is revealed to be murder by strangulation rather than a suicide the SS officials in Dachau are charged by the Munich public prosecutor. Heinrich Himmler is forced to remove camp commander Waecklerle from his post, but Hitler follows with an order that all concentration camps will be formally removed from judicial oversight and the SS will have unlimited authority over camp prisoners.
· Theodor Eicke’s Punishment and Administration Regulations: October 1, 1933
o A new system of severe punishments and camp administration put in place by Dachau’s new commandant, Theodor Eicke, becomes the model for all concentration camps under S.S. administration. This system includes systematic beatings and the death penalty being imposed for sabotage, attempted escape, and political agitation in the camp.
· Dachau Camp Expanded: August 15, 1938
o An S.S. military training base and expansion to the Dachau concentration camp is completed using slave labor from the Dachau camp prisoners. Prisoners were commanded to work seven days a week at rapid speeds to demolish the original concentration camp and old World War I munitions factory in order to complete the construction.
· Arrests after Kristallnacht: November 9, 1938
o An estimated 11,000 Jews-of the 30, 000 arrested-are deported to Dachau after the Kristallnacht pogrom.
· Conversion to Armed Forces Training Camp: September 27, 1939
o Dachau is temporarily converted to a training facility for Deaths’ Head Division-an elite combat unit recruited from concentration camp guards. All prisoners from Dachau concentration are transferred to Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Flossenbuerg camps. Dachau reopens as a concentration camp in 1941.
· Prisoner Selection by SS Doctors: September 3, 1941
o The first selection of prisoners deemed too ill or weak to work is performed by S.S. doctors. The selected prisoners are sent to Hartheim, Austria to be killed by carbon monoxide gas as part of the “Special 14fl3 Treatment” program.
· Soviet POW Selection Postponed: November 15, 1941
o The original Commissar Order that required the execution of Soviet political commissars and other officials is altered by the S.S. Inspectorate of Concentration Camps due to severe labor shortages. Though the S.S. received tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners from the German army, those who were deemed suitable for work were permitted to live in order to perform forced labor.
· Crematorium Site Chosen: March 17, 1942
o A site is selected for the construction of a crematorium building in a small wooded area immediately outside the camp. The building was called Barrack X and by the spring of 1943 the construction is completed along with four large crematoria ovens being completely operational.
· Polish Priests Deported to Dachau: June 3, 1942
o The first arrival of Polish priests and monks arrive from Auschwitz camp. Hitler and the Nazis arrest more than 2, 700 clergy-mostly from Poland-in order to undermine the leadership of the Catholic Church and Germanize occupied Poland. These clergymen are held in Barrack 26-or the “Priest Barracks”-in Dachau.
· Medical Experiments Conducted on Prisoners: October 3, 1942
o S.S. doctor Sigmund Rascher reports the success of his freezing experiments on prisoners to Heinrich Himmler. S.S. doctors performed multiple life-threatening experiments on Dachau prisoners that include high-altitude, malaria, and medication experiments: these were all performed in an effort to assist the German military forces. Rascher experimented by forcing prisoners into a tank of ice water and attempting to revive them after several hours using different methods. Of the 300 prisoners forced to be test-subjects, one-third of them died from these experiments.
· Typhus Epidemic: January 26, 1943
o S.S. authorities quarantine Dachau until March in an attempt to contain a typhoid epidemic. All forced labor outside of the camp and almost 1,000 prisoners die during the outbreak.
· SS Reports Prisoner Statistics: January 15, 1945
o The number of prisoners reported by S.S. officials exceeds 55, 000: this includes more than 2,000 women. The Dachau camp system is, at this point, expanded to more than thirty large subcamps in southern Germany and northern Austria.
· Death March to Tegernsee: April 26, 1945
o About 7,000 prisoners are sent on a six-day death march to Tegernsee. The S.S. shoots any prisoner who cannot continue marching and many others die from exposure, hunger, or exhaustion. Those who survive arrive in Tegernsee on May 2 and are liberated by the American forces.
· U.S. Forces Liberate Camp: April 29, 1945
American forces liberate the Dachau concentration camp. They find 30 coal cars filled with decomposing bodies and about 30,000 surviving prisoners. Most prisoners arrived and died without being registered so the total number of victims is still unknown, but of the almost 200,000 registered prisoners of Dachau more than 30,000 died (Jewish Virtual Library).
o Located 10 miles northwest of Munich and in southern Germany, Dachau was the first concentration camp established and was also operated the longest (1933 to 1945). The first prisoners arrived on March 21 and they were primarily opponents of the Nazi party.
· Exempted from Judicial Authority: May 25, 1933
o Adolf Hitler passes an order which ends all legal proceedings resulting from deaths in Dachau. After the death of a school principal, Sebastian Nefzger, is revealed to be murder by strangulation rather than a suicide the SS officials in Dachau are charged by the Munich public prosecutor. Heinrich Himmler is forced to remove camp commander Waecklerle from his post, but Hitler follows with an order that all concentration camps will be formally removed from judicial oversight and the SS will have unlimited authority over camp prisoners.
· Theodor Eicke’s Punishment and Administration Regulations: October 1, 1933
o A new system of severe punishments and camp administration put in place by Dachau’s new commandant, Theodor Eicke, becomes the model for all concentration camps under S.S. administration. This system includes systematic beatings and the death penalty being imposed for sabotage, attempted escape, and political agitation in the camp.
· Dachau Camp Expanded: August 15, 1938
o An S.S. military training base and expansion to the Dachau concentration camp is completed using slave labor from the Dachau camp prisoners. Prisoners were commanded to work seven days a week at rapid speeds to demolish the original concentration camp and old World War I munitions factory in order to complete the construction.
· Arrests after Kristallnacht: November 9, 1938
o An estimated 11,000 Jews-of the 30, 000 arrested-are deported to Dachau after the Kristallnacht pogrom.
· Conversion to Armed Forces Training Camp: September 27, 1939
o Dachau is temporarily converted to a training facility for Deaths’ Head Division-an elite combat unit recruited from concentration camp guards. All prisoners from Dachau concentration are transferred to Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Flossenbuerg camps. Dachau reopens as a concentration camp in 1941.
· Prisoner Selection by SS Doctors: September 3, 1941
o The first selection of prisoners deemed too ill or weak to work is performed by S.S. doctors. The selected prisoners are sent to Hartheim, Austria to be killed by carbon monoxide gas as part of the “Special 14fl3 Treatment” program.
· Soviet POW Selection Postponed: November 15, 1941
o The original Commissar Order that required the execution of Soviet political commissars and other officials is altered by the S.S. Inspectorate of Concentration Camps due to severe labor shortages. Though the S.S. received tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners from the German army, those who were deemed suitable for work were permitted to live in order to perform forced labor.
· Crematorium Site Chosen: March 17, 1942
o A site is selected for the construction of a crematorium building in a small wooded area immediately outside the camp. The building was called Barrack X and by the spring of 1943 the construction is completed along with four large crematoria ovens being completely operational.
· Polish Priests Deported to Dachau: June 3, 1942
o The first arrival of Polish priests and monks arrive from Auschwitz camp. Hitler and the Nazis arrest more than 2, 700 clergy-mostly from Poland-in order to undermine the leadership of the Catholic Church and Germanize occupied Poland. These clergymen are held in Barrack 26-or the “Priest Barracks”-in Dachau.
· Medical Experiments Conducted on Prisoners: October 3, 1942
o S.S. doctor Sigmund Rascher reports the success of his freezing experiments on prisoners to Heinrich Himmler. S.S. doctors performed multiple life-threatening experiments on Dachau prisoners that include high-altitude, malaria, and medication experiments: these were all performed in an effort to assist the German military forces. Rascher experimented by forcing prisoners into a tank of ice water and attempting to revive them after several hours using different methods. Of the 300 prisoners forced to be test-subjects, one-third of them died from these experiments.
· Typhus Epidemic: January 26, 1943
o S.S. authorities quarantine Dachau until March in an attempt to contain a typhoid epidemic. All forced labor outside of the camp and almost 1,000 prisoners die during the outbreak.
· SS Reports Prisoner Statistics: January 15, 1945
o The number of prisoners reported by S.S. officials exceeds 55, 000: this includes more than 2,000 women. The Dachau camp system is, at this point, expanded to more than thirty large subcamps in southern Germany and northern Austria.
· Death March to Tegernsee: April 26, 1945
o About 7,000 prisoners are sent on a six-day death march to Tegernsee. The S.S. shoots any prisoner who cannot continue marching and many others die from exposure, hunger, or exhaustion. Those who survive arrive in Tegernsee on May 2 and are liberated by the American forces.
· U.S. Forces Liberate Camp: April 29, 1945
American forces liberate the Dachau concentration camp. They find 30 coal cars filled with decomposing bodies and about 30,000 surviving prisoners. Most prisoners arrived and died without being registered so the total number of victims is still unknown, but of the almost 200,000 registered prisoners of Dachau more than 30,000 died (Jewish Virtual Library).