Concentration Camp Dachau – Civilian Support for the Nazi Administration

This February 22, 1942, cover from the Dachau town mayor’s office to the SS administration of the Dachau concentration camp advertised local tourist attractions: castle, museum, artists’ community, picturesque mountain view and spa, just 30 minutes from Munich by bus or train. Local leaders assisted Nazi concentration camp officials to secure all required goods and services to keep the camp functioning. Despite these close working relationships, German civilians professed not to have known of the camp’s horrors when forced to view them by soldiers of the Seventh United States Army who liberated the camp on April 29, 1945.