Dachau Liberation Reprisals: The Killing of SS Guards After the Camp’s Discovery

World History: True Stories of the 20th Century · Mar 10, 2026 · 17m

The liberation of the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945 exposed the horrors of the Nazi camp system and was followed by controversial reprisals against captured SS guards.

The liberation of the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945, by the U.S. 45th Infantry Division marked a pivotal moment in World War II. Located near Munich, Dachau was the first regular concentration camp established by the Nazi regime in 1933. Over its twelve years of operation, more than 200,000 people were imprisoned there and in its numerous subcamps. Nearly 42,000 did not survive. Originally intended for…