Dachau, city, Bavaria, S Germany, on the Amper River; chartered in 1391. It is a rail junction and its industries include the production of paper, cardboard, electrical equipment, and textiles. There is a 16th-century castle. Nearby was (1933-45) the first Nazi concentration camp, which today has a number of memorials and a museum. Records indicate that at least 32,000 inmates died at the Dachau concentration camp, and numberless more were transported to extermination camps in Poland.

First Nazi concentration camp in Germany, established in 1933. It became the model and training center for all other SS-organized camps. In World War II the main camp was supplemented by about 150 branches in southern Germany and Austria, which were collectively called Dachau. It was the first and most important camp at which laboratories were set up to perform medical experiments on inmates. Such experiments and the harsh living conditions made Dachau one of the most notorious camps, though it was not designed as an extermination camp.

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