F01_P08: Concentration Camp Dachau established, 1933
1933 May 5, Reverse side - Post card from Dachau concentration camp guard Josef Haff.
White post card (brightness of scan blows out proper appearance of the archive) with printed text an outline in German using brown ink. Cursive handwriting in German using pencil is present overall. A green 6-pfennig stamp in the top right corner depicting Friedrich Ebert, former President of Germany (1919-1925). Overtop, a black ink overprint cancellation stamp dated May 5, 1933 is present. The foundation is promptly working to update the scans.
Name/Title
F01_P08: Concentration Camp Dachau established, 1933Entry/Object ID
2007.1.8Scope and Content
1933 May 5, post card from Dachau concentration camp guard Josef Haff.Context
Dachau, located 15 kilometers from Munich in Bavaria, was the Nazis’ first major concentration camp, built on the site of an abandoned World War I munitions factory. Heinrich Himmler announced its creation at a March 20, 1933, news conference. The first prisoners – Communists and Socialists – arrived on March 22. At the beginning, Dachau had a capacity for 4,000 inmates. By September 1944, the prisoner population had grown to about 100,000. Dachau was the only camp that lasted for the entire 12 years of the Third Reich; it was liberated by the United States Army on April 29, 1945. On May 5, 1933, Josef Haff, who had been a Nazi since 1929, wrote to his family as he sipped beer during his mid-day break on his third day of duty as a concentration camp guard. He found life at the camp to be pleasant. The picture side of his postcard is a view of the Amper valley from the south, with the Würm river canal flowing past the west side of the prison compound. Below is an official document attesting to Haff’s satisfactory service as a Dachau guard from May 3 to September 16, 1933.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Post Card
Philatelic Material