Essay --

In 1933 to 1945, Germany was under the rule of Adolf Hitler, the man who commanded the Nazi party. Their goal was to get rid of all of the ‘undesirables’, or people seen as lower than ‘true Germans’ in Europe. Most of these people were Jewish but political prisoners, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses were also targeted. These people were shipped to concentration camps, camps where people were detained and confined, typically under harsh conditions. The first of these made, and the model for all others, was Dachau, located about ten miles north of Munich, Germany. It is approximated that over 50,000 people met their deaths in the Dachau camp, which would be the amount of people that would fit into a sold out Yankee Stadium. The Holocaust horrors extended beyond the largely targeted Jews, as evidenced by the treatment of the largely civilian population of prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp. The first prisoners to arrive at the camp came on March 22, 1933 and were under command of SS Officer Hilmar WÃ ¤ckerle, the man who established rules that instituted terror as a way of life for the prisoners at camp. Many of these prisoners consisted of social democrats and German Communists who had an easier time at the camp than later prisoners. Long term imprisonments often lead to death but many of the early prisoners were released after serving their sentence and were considered to be rehabilitated. But even in this early stage of the camp and the party, laws were changing to fit the Nazis ways. Theodor Eicke took over control three months after the camp opened, due to WÃ ¤ckerle being charged with the murder of a prisoner. Hitler overruled the charges and declared that concentration camps were out of the realm ... ...ite, lining the path are twelve information panels. The almost three kilometer path represents the path taken by most prisoners when they arrived in the camp. The camp also has an archive on site that is open for visitors, containing papers and documents from the camp when it was open. Currently housing over 6,000 pictures, papers like maps and blueprints, 350 phonograms, and about 1,200 films, there are many different sources in the archive and attached library. These consist of eye witness statements, documents about the development of the camp and the International Prisons Committee, which was established after the liberation. The memorial was made so the people of today could look back and remember the extreme amount of people that had their lives turned upside down and lost by the Nazi Party and to teach people so the same tragedy does not repeat itself.