Dachau was built in 1933 northwest of Munich, Germany as the first Nazi concentration camp and it was the model to all other camps after. It also served as an SS concentration guard training center. Over 200,000 prisoners were held there until the survivors were liberated by the Americans in April 1945. Hitler committed suicide the next day.
From July 1945 to 1948, the US military used Dachau to intern Nazi party officials and SS members for the Dachau Trials, where they were held accountable for their atrocities.
During World War II, escapes were rare but some succeeded. Susan Slonim Servais’ grandfather Max Mueller, a Jew and former Third Reich official, saved his family but risked his own life by choosing to go to Dachau on a rescue mission.
Kathe Mueller Slonim, who passed away in 2021, documented her family’s story and her daughter Susan is here to carry the legacy forward.