Dachau liberation reprisals
| Dachau liberation reprisals | |
|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |
Soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Army guard SS prisoners in a coal yard at Dachau concentration camp during its liberation. April 29, 1945 (U.S. Army photograph) | |
| Location | Dachau concentration camp |
| Date | April 29, 1945 |
| Target | SS personnel |
Attack type | Massacre Summary executions Vigilantism |
| Deaths | ~35–50 |
| Perpetrators | United States Army Former Dachau prisoners |
| Motive | Outrage Revenge |
During the Dachau liberation reprisals, German SS troops were killed by outraged U.S. soldiers and concentration camp prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945, during World War II. It is unclear how many SS guards were killed in the incident, but most estimates place the number killed at around 35 to 50. In the days before the camp's liberation, SS guards at the camp had forced 7,000 inmates on a death march that resulted in the death of many from exposure and shooting. When Allied soldiers liberated Dachau, they were variously shocked, horrified, disturbed, and infuriated at finding the massed corpses of prisoners, and by the combativeness of some of the remaining guards who allegedly fired on them.