Dachau, former concentration camp in Munich, Germany

Dachau was a Nazi German concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km northwest of Munich , southern Germany. Dachau served as a prototype and model for the other Nazi concentration camps that followed. In total, over 200,000 prisoners from more than 30 countries were housed in Dachau of which nearly one-third were Jews.[3] 25,613 prisoners are believed to have died in the camp and almost another 10,000 in its subcamps,[4] primarily from disease, malnutrition and suicide. In early 1945, there was a typhus epidemic in the camp followed by an evacuation, in which large numbers of the weaker prisoners died. Together with the much larger Auschwitz, Dachau has come to symbolize the Nazi concentration camps to many people. Konzentrationslager (KZ) Dachau holds a significant place in public memory because it was the second camp to be liberated by British or American forces. Therefore, it was one of the first places where the West was exposed to the reality of Nazi brutality through firsthand journalist accounts and through newsreels.