What was Dachau?

1. How did the Dachau concentration camp change from 1933-45? What was Dachau?

2. Place A ‘It is a cold evening… the… prisoners are having bread, sausage and tea inside the former office of a dilapidated munitions plant… cordoned off from the rest of the deserted factory ground with its crumbling structure, broken concrete foundations, and derelict roads. In all, there are no more than 100 or 120 political prisoners… the guards were… amiable policeman, who chatted with the prisoners, handed out cigarettes, and even slept in the same building.’ What is being described? How can you tell?

3. Place B ‘Nearly four thousand men with cropped hair stand to attention in striped uniforms, dreading another day of forced labour. Except for a group of Czechs, virtually all the prisoners are German or Austrian, though their common language is often all they share; coloured triangles on their uniforms identify them as political prisoners, asocials, criminals, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Jews…. Each of the thirty four purpose-built huts is around 110 yards long; the floors inside are gleaming and the bunks are meticulously made up. Escape is almost impossible…’ What is being described? How can you tell?

4. Place C ‘Later that afternoon, they come upon thirty two thousand survivors from many ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds, representing about thirty European nations. Some seem more dead than alive… Many more lie in overcrowded barracks, infested with dirt and disease… dead bodies, sprawled between barracks, dumped in ditches, stacked like logs by the camp’s crematorium…’ What is being described? How can you tell?

5. Comparing Places How might you describe Places A, B and C? In what ways are they similar or different?

6. Resources: Document Statement Cards

7. Himmler sets up Dachau‘The first concentration camp will be opened’ Document 3

8. Himmler sets up Dachau‘The first concentration camp will be opened’ Document 3

9. Himmler sets up Dachau‘The first concentration camp will be opened’ Document 3

10. Camp Inspector Eicke‘show the enemies of the state your teeth!’ Document 21

11. Camp Inspector Eicke‘show the enemies of the state your teeth!’ Document 21

12. Camp Inspector Eicke‘show the enemies of the state your teeth!’ Document 21

13. Nazi Propaganda‘the typical face of a born criminal’ Document 95

14. Nazi Propaganda‘the typical face of a born criminal’ Document 95

15. Nazi Propaganda‘the typical face of a born criminal’ Document 95

16. German prisoners‘marked by coloured strips’ Document 51

17. German prisoners‘marked by coloured strips’ Document 51

18. German prisoners‘marked by coloured strips’ Document 51

19. Death transports‘living corpses is an inadequate description’ Document 37

20. Death transports‘living corpses is an inadequate description’ Document 37

21. Death transports‘living corpses is an inadequate description’ Document 37

22. Soviet Prisoners‘there were 200 boys like us’ Document 54

23. Soviet Prisoners‘there were 200 boys like us’ Document 54

24. Soviet Prisoners‘there were 200 boys like us’ Document 54

25. War Experiments‘I read your report on freezing experiments’ Document 74

26. War Experiments‘I read your report on freezing experiments’ Document 74

27. War Experiments‘I read your report on freezing experiments’ Document 74

28. Freezing to death‘Farewell comrade’ Document 75

29. Freezing to death‘Farewell comrade’ Document 75

30. Freezing to death‘Farewell comrade’ Document 75

31. Construction‘Deaths no longer aroused much interest’ Document 46

32. Construction‘Deaths no longer aroused much interest’ Document 46

33. Construction‘Deaths no longer aroused much interest’ Document 46

34. Freedom‘my life was given back to me’ Document 112

35. Freedom‘my life was given back to me’ Document 112

36. Freedom‘my life was given back to me’ Document 112

37. Resources: Context Cards

38. Context Card: Date: Something we found out to help understand what was happening at Dachau was… Choose one of the following areas of the website you would like to look at, and record a new piece of information that helps to give some context to what was happening in Dachau; A. Early Camps B. Camp System C. Perpetrators E. Slave Labour F. Prisoner Groups H. Executions I. Holocaust L. Liberation OR look at the Timeline or Maps sections Context

39. ‘What was Dachau?’How did the Dachau concentration camp change from 1933-45?