America Liberates Dachau

America’s 45th Infantry Liberates Dachau – On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division liberates Dachau’s main camp after a brief battle with the camp’s remaining guards. A major Dachau subcamp was liberated the same day by the 42nd Rainbow Division. Dachau, originally intended to hold political prisoners was the first of the Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany and served as a model training center for all other camps. The prisoner’s entrance was secured by an iron gate “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work will make you free”). Dachau administration recorded an intake of 206,206 prisoners and deaths of 31,951, many of which have transported to other camps. Dachau was the longest camp in operation from March 1933 to April 1945.