Editing Dachau, Bavaria (section)

==History==

===Prehistoric times and Early Middle Ages===
As the [[Amper]] River would divert into backwaters in several places, there were many fords making it possible to cross the river. The oldest findings of human presence here date back to the [[Stone Age]].  The most noteworthy findings were discovered near Feldgeding in the adjoining municipality Bergkirchen.
Around 1000 B.C. the [[Celts]] arrived in this area and settled. 
Approximately at the turn of the first millennium the Romans conquered the area and incorporated it into the province of [[Rhaetia]]. A Roman trade road between [[Salzburg]] and today's [[Augsburg]] is said to have run through Dachau. Remains of this old route are found along the Amper marshlands.

===Middle Ages===

The first known documentation of Dachau occurs in a medieval deed issued by the Noble Erchana of Dahauua to the prince-bishop of [[Prince-Bishopric of Freising|Freising]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dachau.de/en/tourism/history/history.html|title=Stadt Dachau: History|website=www.dachau.de|language=de|access-date=2017-05-11}}</ref> both descendants of the lineage of the [[Aribonids]]. With this deed, dated to August 15, 805 A.D. (''[[Assumption of Mary|the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary]]''), she donated her entire property in Dachau, including five so-called ''Colonenhöfe'' and some serfs and bondsman, to devolve to the Bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising|Diocese of Freising]] after her death.

During much of the 12th century, Dachau was the primary residence of a smaller branch from the [[House of Wittelsbach]] led by [[Otto I, Count of Scheyern-Dachau-Valley|Otto I, Count of Scheyern-Dauchau]]. When Conrad III died in 1182, [[Otto I, Duke of Bavaria|Duke Otto I]] of [[Bavaria]] purchased the land and granted it [[Market town|market rights]], that were then affirmed between 1270 and 1280 by [[Louis II, Duke of Bavaria|Duke Ludwig II der Strenge]] (the Strict).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.finanzamt.bayern.de/Dachau/Ueber_uns/Geschichte/default.php?f=Dachau&c=n&d=x&t=x|title=Finanzamt Dachau: Über uns - Geschichte|date=2014-04-25|website=www.finanzamt.bayern.de|language=de|access-date=2017-05-11}}</ref>

In 1467 [[Sigismund, Duke of Bavaria]] resigned and then kept only Bavaria-Dachau as his domain until his death in 1501.

===From the 16th century to modern times===
Between 1546 and 1577, the House of [[Wittelsbach]] had the [[Dachau Palace]] erected in the [[Renaissance]] style. From June 1715 to Autumn 1717, [[Joseph Effner]] remodeled the palace to suit the contemporary taste in style.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the castle's north-, east- and south-wing had to be demolished due to their state of disrepair. The west-wing housing the dance hall with a superb view of the enchanting gardens, still remains today. On the first floor the original [[renaissance]] wood carved, coffered ceiling can be admired by visitors.

During the second half of the 19th century, the town began to attract landscape artists. The [[Dachau art colony]], which flourished between 1890 and 1914, brought the town recognition as one of the most important artist's colonies in Germany beside [[Worpswede]].

===Nazi era===
In 1933, the [[Dachau concentration camp]] was built east of the city by the [[SS]] of [[Nazi Germany]] and operated until 1945. It was the first of what became many [[Nazi concentration camps]]. 14,100 prisoners were killed in the camp by the Nazis and almost another 10,000 in its sub-camps.<ref>That Was Dachau 1933 - 1945 by Stanislav Zámečník Pages 377 and 379</ref>