A dark chapter in Munich's history: the KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau has been dedicated to the memory of the victims of Dachau Concentration Camp.
As early as 22 March 1933, just a few weeks after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, a concentration camp for political prisoners was built in Dachau. It was the first camp in Germany and was to provide the blueprint for all subsequent concentration camps.
Other groups of prisoners, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals and prisoners of war, were also soon imprisoned in the camp. In the twelve years that it was in use, the National Socialists kept over 200,000 people from across Europe imprisoned in Dachau. Over 40,000 of these prisoners were murdered. American soldiers liberated the survivors on 29 April 1945.
In 1965, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the camp’s liberation, the KZ-Gedenkstätte (Concentration Camp Memorial Site) was erected at the surviving prisoners’ initiative based on their own plans.
You can visit the Memorial Site without previous registration. Visits are free of charge. A small fee is charged for audio guides which are available in fourteen languages and guided tours. Daily guided tours take visitors through the former camp grounds, the buildings and the permanent exhibition. Tours are also offered in English and Italian and last around 2.5 hours.
www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de
