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80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp – Impressions
| 11. November 2025
Procession down the former camp road
On Sunday, May 4 2025, the central ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp took place. Around 1 700 guests from all over the world came to Dachau to take part in the major event. To our delight the guests included nine contemporary witnesses, both survivors as well as liberators of the concentration camp. Particularly in light of the global political situation their presence was an important signal against forgetting the lessons of the past and attempts to reinterpret and falsify history.
Prior to the central commemorative event on the former roll call area, an ecumenic religious service involving the Protestant, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox churches was held in the Carmelite Convent “Carmel of the Precious Blood”, while a commemorative ceremony of the ”Israelitische Kultusgemeinden in München und Oberbayern” (Jewish communities in Munich and Upper Bavaria) took place in front of the Jewish memorial, and a Russian Orthodox mass was celebrated in the chapel “Resurrection of our Lord”.
Following these services there was a commemorative ceremony in a smaller group at the former crematorium, which was shown on a large screen for all visitors gathered on the former roll call area. The ceremony included speeches by the 98-year-old Italian survivor Mario Candotto and Florian Hartmann, Lord Mayor of the City of Dachau. There followed a wreath laying at the monument for the unknown prisoner before the traditional procession down the former camp road to the onetime roll call area with the “Book of Remembrance for the Dead of Dachau”.
The central commemorative event on the former roll call area, held this year in a large marquee tent, was opened with welcoming addresses by the Director of the Dachau Memorial Site, Dr. Gabriele Hammermann, and the Director of the Bavarian Memorial Foundation, Karl Freller. A further welcoming speech was given by the President of the German Bundestag (federal parliament), Julia Klöckner. These addresses were followed by a moving commemorative message from Lockered ‘Bud’ Gahs. Meanwhile a hundred years old, the veteran was a member of the 42nd “Rainbow” Division of the American troops who liberated the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945. Dominique Boueih, President of the Comité International de Dachau, then gave his address. A trio of survivors, Jean Lafaurie, Abba Naor and Leslie Rosenthal, gave moving commemorative messages in which they spoke about their imprisonment in the concentration camp and life after liberation. To conclude, Ulrike Scharf, Bavarian Minister of State for Family, Labor and Social Affairs as well as Deputy Minister President, and Ilse Aigner, President of the Bavarian Landtag (state parliament), delivered powerful addresses.
Following the addresses, the survivors and liberators of the Dachau concentration camp who had died during the preceding year were commemorated with their names read out. A minute’s silence was then observed. The commemorative event was concluded by a joint wreath laying ceremony at the International Monument.
In cooperation with the “Förderverein für Internationale Jugendbegegnung und Gedenkstättenarbeit in Dachau e.V.” (International Youth Encounter and Memorial Site Work in Dachau e.V.”), guests were then invited to take the opportunity to come together in a marquee to mark the “Day of Encounters”.
All of the ceremonies were broadcast live on Bavarian public television, and a recording is available for viewing in the ARD Mediathek. The journalist Ilanit Spinner moderated the event.
Religious services and commemorative events prior to the central ceremony
Commemoration at the former crematorium
Procession down the former camp road
Central ceremony on the former roll call area
All photos: © KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau