Martin Gottfried Weiss, alternatively spelled Weiß, was the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp in 1945 at the time of his arrest. He also served from April 1940 until September 1942 as the commandant of Neuengamme concentration camp, and later, from November 1943 until May 1944, as the fourth commandant of Majdanek concentration camp. He was executed for war crimes.
Martin Gottfried Weiss
The main gate at Dachau concentration camp, marked with the slogan Arbeit macht frei
Reconnaissance photograph of the Majdanek concentration camp (1944)
Dachau concentration camp
Dachau was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 mi) northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany. After its opening by Heinrich Himmler, its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, Romani, German and Austrian criminals, and, finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps, which were mostly work camps or Arbeitskommandos, and were located throughout southern Germany and Austria. The main camp was liberated by U.S. forces on 29 April 1945.
U.S. soldiers guarding the main entrance to Dachau just after liberation, 1945
Aerial photo of the Dachau complex with the actual concentration camp on the left
The camp commander gives a speech to prisoners about to be released as part of a pardoning action near Christmas 1933.
Two Dachau crematoria