20th Armored Division Dachau Liberation Plaque
Details:
In the archway of the entrance to the Dachau concentration camp. Plaque
From the U.S.Holocaust Museum Website:
APRIL 29, 1945
The 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions and the 20th Armored Division of the US Army liberate approximately 32,000 prisoners at Dachau. On April 26, 1945, as American forces approached, there were 67,665 registered prisoners in Dachau and its subcamps; more than half of this number were in the main camp. Of these, 43,350 were categorized as political prisoners, while 22,100 were Jews, with the remainder falling into various other categories. Starting that day, the Germans forced more than 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, on a death march from Dachau to Tegernsee far to the south. During the death march, the Germans shot anyone who could no longer continue; many also died of hunger, cold, or exhaustion. On April 29, 1945, American forces liberated Dachau. As they neared the camp, they found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies brought to Dachau, all in an advanced state of decomposition. In early May 1945, American forces liberated the prisoners who had been sent on the death march. Liberator Division: For their part in liberating this camp, the 20th Armored Division divisions was accorded “liberator” status in 1985 by a joint program of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the U.S. Army Center of Military History, which was an effort on the part of these two entities to recognize U.S. Army units that took part in freeing prisoners from Nazi concentration camps.
Monument Text:
In honor of the 20th Armored Division (Liberators) US 7th Army who participated in the liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp, April 29, 1945 and in everlasting memory of the victims of Nazi barbarism, this tablet is dedicated April 28, 1996.
Commemorates:
Units:
20th Armored Division
20th Armored Division (Liberators)
42nd Infantry Division
45th Infantry Division
7th Army
Wars:
WWII
Battles:
Holocaust Camp Liberation