| Original caption: “GIs inspect the ovens of the Dachau concentration camp crematorium, in which the bodies of thousands of Holocaust victims have been burned.” 2 American soldiers of the United States 7th Army, 1 carrying a camera, examine 2 of the crematoria at Konzentrationslager (KZ; “Concentration Camp”) Dachau. Out of the 5 ovens at Dachau concentration camp, 4 were made by Heinrich Kori Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftungand (“Company with Limited Liability”) and 1 by Topf und Söhne (“Topf and Sons”). At 1st, the Schutzstaffel (SS) sent the ashes of the prisoners who perished in the camp to the family concerned, buried the body not far from the camp, or took it to Munich’s East Cemetery for cremation. As the prisoner numbers and the death rate rose dramatically with the outbreak of war, in the summer of 1940 the SS had a 1st crematorium fitted with a furnace built. Just a year later, the capacity of this crematorium was insufficient. In the spring of 1942, work began on building “barrack X,” which was then put into operation a year later. This was a crematorium with 4 furnaces, a disinfection chamber for clothing, day rooms and sanitary facilities, as well as morgues and a gas chamber disguised as a “shower bath.” There can be no doubt that “barrack X” was designed for the mass extermination of prisoners. Killing people on a mass scale through poison gas never took place in the Dachau concentration camp. It remains unexplained as to why the SS never used the operational gas chamber for this purpose. According to 1 contemporary witness account, some prisoners were killed by poison gas in 1944. Somewhat secluded from the rest of the camp complex, the SS used the crematorium area as an execution site. Here prisoners were hung or shot in the back of the neck. The victims were mainly members of resistance organizations. Lieutenant Colonel Walter J. “Mickey” Fellenz (November 21, 1916 – June 1, 1978), Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 222nd Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division, personally witnessed a spot where guards had executed prisoners: “The mound of earth was still wet with blood.” Between 1933 and 1945, around 41,500 persons died of hunger, exhaustion, and disease, the direct result of being tortured, or were brutally murdered in the Dachau concentration camp and its sub camps. At the time of liberation, there were about 4,000 bodies in and around the crematorium and another 1,000 scattered throughout the compound. A commemorative “path of death” takes visitors past the execution sites and the graves with the ashes. Photographer James “Jim” M. J. Pringle (1919 – February 19, 1970) was with the 42nd Division as pool reporter. He was 1 of the 1st photographers to document Dachau. He granddaughter Khara Pringle (born 1973) discovered a box of his Dachau photographs as a child and continues his work as a professional photographer. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0592.jpg |
| Image Size | 889.81 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2806 x 2021 |
| Photographer | James M. J. Pringle |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 4, 1945 |
| Location | Konzentrationslager Dachau |
| City | Dachau |
| State or Province | Bavaria |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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