We stopped at the Dachau concentration camp. What an emotional experience. While I knew some history surrounding Hitler, I honestly had no idea how far in advance his evil plans began.

Our guide, Claudia, told us about the rise of the Nazis. In January of 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor of Germany. The Nazi party was the second largest party holding around 33% of the Reichstag vote. The communist party was the third largest at 17% so Hitler turned his focus to the Communist Party in hopes to get a majority.

Elections were set for March, so on February 22, Hitler used his chancellor powers to appoint 50,000 Nazi SA men as auxiliary police. He then ordered a raid on communist headquarters and falsely claimed there was evidence that the communists were planning to attack public buildings. On February 27, a fire was started and destroyed the Reichstag buildings. On February 28, a decree was issued to abolish the freedom of speech, assembly, privacy, and the press. Hitler had complete control. He had over 4,000 men arrested that same night. When elections were held in March, elected officials from the communist party were arrested. The Nazi party assumed control of those positions and had the majority to do as they pleased.

So where were these prisoners taken? Dachau Concentration Camp. Hitler orchestrated this series of events so that his party could assume power and he could build the camp (and later more camps) under the guise of being a short-term prison. A place to rehabilitate prisoners to the right political thinking. But Hitler’s plan was always looking forward to rounding up and eliminating the Jews.

It was eye-opening to see how quickly Hitler went from being appointed, to the fire, to opponents being arrested and tortured. This did not happen without a premeditated plan.