Dachau, the first of the Nazi concentration camps, was established in a northwestern suburb of Munich in March 1933, just weeks after Hitler was appointed Chancellor. Inmates included political prisoners, “asocials,” Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and others. More than 10,000 Jews were imprisoned here after Kristallnacht in November 1938. Dachau served as a model camp and training center. The camp “motto” Arbeit Macht Frei (Work will make you free), which appeared on the entrance gate, can be found at several other camps, including Sachsenhausen, Terezin’s Small Fortress, and, most infamously, at Auschwitz. More than 200,000 passed through Dachau during its twelve years of operation, approximately 20% of whom died in the camp.
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