The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial is one of the most important historical sites in Germany. The camp opened on 22 March 1933, just weeks after the Nazis came to power, and remained in operation until the American liberation on 29 April 1945. More than 200,000 prisoners from across Europe were held here; at least 41,500 died. Unlike the Operation Reinhard extermination camps in occupied Poland, Dachau was a labour and political prison camp, though the death toll from disease, starvation, forced labour, and execution was enormous.
The memorial site occupies the former camp grounds, including the restored barracks, the roll-call square, and the crematorium and gas chamber building (which, though completed, was reportedly never used for mass gassing at Dachau specifically). The museum in the main administration building presents the full history of the camp and the broader Nazi concentration camp system in thorough and unflinching detail. Temporary exhibitions regularly add new research. The site is sobering and essential — but plan for at least three hours, more if you want to engage with the museum fully. From Munich's S2 line to Dachau station, then bus 726 direct to the memorial.