Jonah Kenyon

4-5-15
English 101

The Liberation of Dachau

Dachau was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany. From its
creation until it was finally liberated in 1945, Dachau saw many of the horrors committed by
Nazi Germany. However, the greatest tragedy in the history of Dachau may have occurred after
its liberation. In an event known as the Dachau massacre or Dachau liberation reprisals, the
liberating American troops gunned down many of the remaining SS troops in the Dachau
compound. Even though this may seem like it should have attracted a lot of attention, very few
people today know about this event.
The Dachau concentration camp was first constructed in March of 1933. The location of
the camp was just outside the town of Dachau, approximately 10 miles northwest of Munich,
Germany. It was initially designed to be a camp for political prisoners, such as Communists,
gays, Jehovahs Witness, gypsies, and Jews. Few Jews were brought to the camp initially, since
Hitlers Final Solution had not yet become reality. However, as the years went on, more and
more Jews were sent to the camp. Eventually, after an event known as Kristallnacht, more than
10,000 Jewish men, women, and children were held prisoner there. That number would only
continue to rise as the war drew on. As the first German concentration camp, Dachau set the
precedent for all German concentration camps to follow by forcing prisoners to be laborers,
performing medical experiments on prisoners, etc. The prisoners were basically turned into
slaves for the Nazi regime, and forced to work to help the war effort. These included, but were

not limited to, building roads, digging ditches, and draining marshes. Because of the need for
war products, Dachau also had many other sub-camps that were used as centers for weapon
manufacturing. The prisoners were worked constantly, and death was a regular occurrence, as
people died by the thousands. The medical experiments performed were absolutely atrocious,
killing hundreds of prisoners that were experimented, and maiming thousands. These
experiments ranged from the effects of altitude using a decompression chamber all the way to
experimental medicines. One interesting fact regarding Dachau is that despite it having a gas
chamber, there is no evidence suggesting that the gas chamber was ever even used. After being in
operation for 12 years, American and Allied forces liberated the camp on April 29th, 1945. Before
they arrived, however, some 7000 prisoners were moved 3 days prior to liberation from Dachau
to Tegernsee. During the march, hundreds more prisoners would die from exhaustion,
dehydration, cold exposure, hypothermia, etc. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,
"Dachau Concentration Camp: History & Overview.").
Unfortunately for many of the German SS left at Dachau on that April day, it was likely
their last day alive. The 42nd and 45th infantry divisions of the US 7th Army were assigned to take
Dachau that day. These men were battle-hardened and had seen horrors of war that no one else
could possibly imagine. Upon arriving at Dachau, these men saw something that brought even
them to tears. Before they even arrived, they could smell the death that was coming from the
camp. They also found a train line of boxcars, all of them full of dead bodies. Things only got
worse as they came up to the camp. Corpses stacked on top of each other just waiting to be
burned, survivors that were so severely malnourished to the point that they were only skin and
bones, and the absolutely filthy conditions that these survivors were living in. Upon seeing this, a
general attitude of anger, disgust, and horror set in among the American troops, all of which

became directed towards the SS troops on the scene. The Americans eventually began rounding
up the German troops inside the camp. There was no official order given, but the soldiers ended
up separating the regular German troops from the Nazi SS troops. Eventually the SS prisoners
were all lined up against a wall in a coal yard. From there, the soldiers on guard duty began
shooting into the SS prisoners until a superior officer came and broke things up. Officially, there
were 17 killed in this incident at the camp. There were also several other sporadic shootings
around the camp. The soldiers also turned a blind eye as the prisoners took out their own
retribution on the German troops, beating them up and killing several. No one is entirely sure
about the exact death estimates at the camps, although a reasonable estimate would be anywhere
from 50-75 dead. However, an exact number doesnt exist because many of the documents
regarding this event were destroyed. (Camden, "Dachau Massacre - Waffen-SS Soldiers
Executed by I Company, 157th Regiment, 45th Thunderbird Division.", Farragher).
One of the main reasons why this event is not widely known, and wasnt even discovered
until the 1980s was because it had been covered up. General George S. Patton ended up
destroying most of the documentation and evidence of this event himself. Afterward, he simply
told the soldiers to go home and get on with their lives (Farragher). However, that doesnt
entirely mean that the soldiers felt right about what they had done. During the investigation of
the Dachau massacre, many of the soldiers (including those who had participated in the shooting)
came forward describing the events of that day. Court martials and murder charges were in the
works. However, according to Farragher as those black-and-white murder charges wound their
way up the chain of the US Army command, superior officers saw the subtler shades of gray that
only foot soldiers could fully discern. The higher ranking officers took into account the fact of
how horrifying and traumatizing the experience must have been for the soldiers. Nothing

couldve prepared them to see those things, and the soldiers acted accordingly to the only thing
that made sense at the time, which was to kill the enemy. Eventually the charges made it all the
way up to General Patton. Lt. Felix Sparks, who was in command at the time of the massacre,
was summoned to Pattons office. When explaining what happen, Patton is said to have told
Sparks that I've investigated these goddamn charges, and they're a bunch of crap (Farragher).
Eventually the charges against all of those involved were dropped, and the reality of what had
happened faded into near nothingness.
The Dachau Massacre is a very dark spot on the history of the US army, but at the same
time it is one of the least known events of the war. Cover ups and destruction of evidence were a
major part of this, and it stands to reason why no one heard about this until long after it had
happened. It was an obvious tragedy, one that many of those involved have regretted until the
day that they died. Dachau certainly played its part during the Second World War, and still
remains hallowed ground where people come and remember the horrible tragedy that was the
Holocaust.

Works Cited
Camden, Jim. "Recalling Holocaust Horrors Area Troops were among First on Scene for
Liberation of Concentration Camps." Spokesman Review. Apr 24 1995. ProQuest. Web. 28 Mar.
2015.
"Dachau Concentration Camp: History & Overview." History & Overview of Dachau. AmericanIsraeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
"Dachau Massacre - Waffen-SS Soldiers Executed by I Company, 157th Regiment, 45th
Thunderbird Division." Dachau Massacre - Waffen-SS Soldiers Executed by I Company, 157th
Regiment, 45th Thunderbird Division. Scrapbookpages.com, 30 Nov. 2007. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.
Farragher, Thomas. "VENGEANCE AT DACHAU IN DARK FOOTNOTE TO DEATH
CAMP'S LIBERATIN, US SOLDIERS SHOCKED BY HOLOCAUST EXECUTED NAZI SS
TROOPS." Boston Globe Jul 02 2001. ProQuest. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Dachau." United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 20 June 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.