Dachau11
Dachau11

Prisoners and Living Conditions in the Camp

The Nazi regime wanted to create a politically, ideologically and socially conform, "radically pure" and strict hierarchical "national community" (Volksgemeinschaft). Those who chose not to integrate themselves or who did not fit in were excluded and persecuted.

The Dachau concentration camp was first established as a camp for political opponents. By 1936 the proportion of Jewish and non-political prisoners increased considerably.

The living conditions of the prisoners were oppressing from the very beginning. From 1936 they continuously worsened: the maltreatment inflicted by SS guards increased and the exploitation of the prisoners' labor was systematized. Between 1933 and 1939 35,000 prisoners were incarcerated, most of whom were then released. Over 500 prisoners nevertheless died.

The living conditions in the camp worsened in 1942 when the SS reduced food rations and increased the terror. The mortality rate rose dramatically. Because this jeopardized Himmler's plan to use as many prisoners as possible for slave labor in armaments production, in became necessary to improve the conditions by 1943. The number of prisoners in Dachau concentration camp and its subcamps rose to over 60,000 by the end of 1944 as mass deportations arrived from the countries under occupation. Most of the prisoners who were able to work were imprisoned in subcamps and from there were assigned to work primarily in the armaments industry. Hence the main camp increasingly evolved into a prisoner distribution site: those capable of working were transported to subcamps; prisoners who were sick or dying were sent back, where they were either murdered of left to their own fate.