The Dachau memorial site in Germany is commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camp Dachau, where over 30,000 prisoners were found alive when the US Army’s 45th Infantry Division arrived on April 29, 1945. The event marks a significant remembrance for the victims and their families, with ceremonies including Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Greek, and Russian Orthodox services.
Dachau was established in March 1933 as part of a network of concentration camps used by the Nazis to kill over 6 million Jews during World War II. The camp was one of the longest operating in the Holocaust and held at least 40,000 people who died or were killed between 1933 and 1945.
US soldier Don Greenbaum recounted his experience when visiting the camp with a French minister in 2020: “He showed me the machine-gun positions, gas chamber, and crematorium. I’ll never forget Dachau.” The US Army’s liberation of the camp came nearly a week after Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945.
After World War II, the camp was used by Allied powers to hold former SS soldiers awaiting trial for war crimes. It also held ethnic Germans expelled from Eastern Europe and served as a US military base during the occupation. The Dachau memorial site continues to honor the victims of the Holocaust and serves as a somber reminder of one of the darkest periods in human history.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/nx-s1-5381036/holocaust-dachau-liberation-anniversary-germany-world-war-ii