Just 65 years ago, in the spring and summer of 1945, as Allied armies advanced through Nazi-occupied Europe to bring the reign of terror of the Third Reich to an end, the world learned of the liberation of dozens of concentration camps.
All over an exhausted Europe, victorious Allied soldiers set free the desperate survivors of camp after camp. The diseased, the starving, the barely alive emerged to tell a shocked and disbelieving world of the full horror of a network of systematised murder, torture, degradation and exploitation that had first been conceived and set in motion 12 years earlier in 1933 in a sleepy little town about 18 km north of Munich.
Of the many picturesque towns and villages that lie on the outskirts of Munich, one of the prettiest is the old medieval town of Dachau. Just outside the town centre can today be found enduring testimony to the evil that was born among the rustic charm, where a major international Memorial Site stands on the grounds of the former concentration camp.
This was the "parent" KZ ("Konzentrationslager"). KZ Dachau was the "Academy of Terror", the originator, role-model and training ground for the vast order of brutality that spread over half of Europe in the wake of the armies of the Third Reich, and which ultimately culminated in one of history’s greatest crimes: the Final Solution.
While each camp was responsible for its own particular form of barbarism, what distinguished Dachau is that almost everything that happened in the system as a whole happened at some level there. There, human medical experiments were conducted. To there, Soviet prisoners were sent to be mown down in mass executions. From there, Jewish prisoners were transported to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Almost every category of victim passed through its infamous Arbeit macht frei ("Freedom through Work") gate: German dissidents, "anti-socials", people who simply did not "fit in", Sinti and Roma "gypsy" peoples, outspoken clergymen, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, Jews, Polish civilians - all in all the citizens of some 34 nations.
Today's Memorial Site combines the historical authenticity of the original environment and its many surviving buildings with the function of a modern exhibition centre. It is a place of memory, of pilgrimage and of education. To visit it can be a challenging but also a deeply moving and memorable experience.
Additional Information
Duration: approx. 5 hours
Departure Times:
1st April - 15th October: daily at 9.15am and 12:30pm
16st October - 31st March: daily at 10:00am
Except for Mondays. The Memorial is closed on Mondays.
Price:
Adults: 21EUR
Children (7-14 years old): 10,5EUR
Please note :
The times given are departure times. Please be here approx 15-30 mins prior to the given departure time
The majority of this tour takes place out of doors in an open and exposed environment. We advise you to bring weather-appropriate clothing.
Once the tour commences, there is little opportunity to purchase food or drink. We advise you to bring refreshments with you.
As with all of the tours, guides are happy to accept tips if you wish to show your appreciation in this way - but please do not do so within the grounds of the Memorial Site.
