The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, 1945 – today

April 1945 – June 1945

The camp grounds are used to house former prisoners who are sick and unable to return to their onetime homeland or are waiting to be repatriated. The U.S. government provides them with food and medicine.

Prisoners in hospital gowns on stretcher beds. They are being looked after by U.S. soldiers. (USHMM)

U.S. soldiers look after former prisoners suffering from typhus, April/May 1945 (USHMM)

July 1945 – summer 1948

The U.S. military uses the former SS camp and the former prisoners’ camp for the internment of Nazi party officials and members of the SS. The Dachau Trials take place on the grounds of the former SS camp; 489 trials are held, hearing 672 indictments, before American military courts.

Court room seen from the rear: behind the bench at the front, eight judges sit beneath the U.S. flag. To their right on the photo are some 20 defendants, while court clerks sit in front of the judges’ bench. The spectator seats are full. (USHMM)

Courtroom during the Dachau Trials, December 1945 (USHMM)

1948

The U.S. military authority returns the grounds of the former prisoners’ camp to the Bavarian state. A reception camp for expelled Germans is built that is later called the “Dachau East residential estate”.

Children play on the grass strip next to the former camp barracks (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

Children playing in the Dachau East residential estate, 1963 (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

1955

The International Camp Committee reforms as the Comité International de Dachau (CID). A supplementary agreement to the Paris Treaties places the graves of victims of the Nazi regime under special protection. This prevents the planned imminent demolishing of the former crematorium from going ahead.

1959

An advisory board, comprising representatives from public institutions and associations whose members almost entirely come from the circle of former victims, joins the CID in demanding the creation of a memorial site.

1960

Johannes Neuhäusler, auxiliary bishop of Munich, has the Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel built on the grounds of the former prisoners’ camp; the chapel is consecrated during the Eucharistic World Congress with 50,000 persons in attendance.

Aerial shot of the grounds of the former prisoners’ camp with the Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel. The onetime camp road is full of people. (Luftbildverlag Bertram)

Consecration of the Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel, August 5 1960 (Luftbildverlag Bertram)

1962

The CID and the Bavarian state government agree to create a memorial site on the grounds of the former prisoners’ camp. Demolition work on the barracks – dilapidated and greatly altered by the various uses since 1945 – commences and two replicas are built. In addition, it is planned to repair the walls and guard towers.

A bulldozer crosses the remains of a demolished barrack and heads towards a part of the barrack still standing. (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

Demolition of the barracks, November 2 1964 (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

1964

Johannes Neuhäusler consecrates the Carmelite Precious Blood of Christ Chapel on November 22 1964.

Johannes Neuhäusler in tunicle, flanked by three altar servers, in front of the altar of the convent church. Those attending the mass are crowded in the background. (archives Karmel Dachau)

Consecration of the convent church by Johannes Neuhäusler (center), November 22 1964 (archives Karmel Dachau)

1965

On May 9 1965 the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, which includes a new documentary exhibition, is opened.

View of a stand in front of the former maintenance building. Around 30 persons sit solemnly while a man stands at a lectern and speaks into a microphone. (CID)

Address given at the opening of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, May 9 1965 (CID)

1967

The Bavarian Regional Bishop Hermann Dietzfelbinger consecrates the Protestant Church of Reconciliation on April 30 1967. The Jewish memorial is consecrated by Rabbi David Spiro on May 7 1967.

Vor dem Eingang zur Versöhnungskirche übergibt der Architekt Helmut Striffler den Schlüssel an den Bischof Kurt Scharf (Mitte), stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Rats der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland. (Keystone)

In front of the entrance to the Church of Reconciliation the architect Helmut Striffler hands over the key to Bishop Kurt Scharf (center), chairman of the Council of Evangelical Churches in Germany. (Keystone)

In front of the Jewish memorial Rabbi David Spiro stands on a podium and recites the prayer for the dead into several microphones. A large crowd is gathered in the background.

Rabbi David Spiro (center) recites prayers for the dead at the consecration of the Jewish memorial, May 7 1967 (dpa)

1968

On September 8 1968 the International Monument by Nandor Glid is unveiled. The sculptor, persecuted in his homeland Yugoslavia by the Nazis because of his Jewish background, had won an artists’ competition held by the CID.

Two former prisoners in striped prisoners’ garb stand in front of the International Monument; several wreaths are behind them, leaning against the wall on which the dates “1933-1945” are mounted. (Daniel Gordana and Gabriel Glid)

Consecration of the International Monument by former prisoners, September 8 1968 (Danile Gordana and Gabriel Glid)

1975–1985

The Memorial Site develops more and more into a place of political and civic education. “Forgotten” victim groups – such as Sinti and Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals – make their voices heard. In the spring of 1980 a group of Sinti and Roma go on a hunger strike to demonstrate against ongoing discrimination.

1995

Public interest in the fate of the victims and the work of the Memorial Site increases steadily with the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. A scholarly advisory board is given the task to elaborate a new concept for the Memorial Site. On April 29 1995, the metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, Nikolai Kutepov, consecrates the Russian Orthodox chapel.

2001

A section of the new exhibition is opened in the former camp prison/the “bunker”.

2003

On May 2 2003 the new main exhibition, located in the former maintenance building, is opened. The exhibition follows the leitmotif of the “path of the prisoners”.

The Culture Minister Hans Zehetmair (left) in conversation with the survivor Hans Taschner (right) at the opening of the main exhibition of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

The Culture Minister Hans Zehetmair (l.) with the survivor Hans Taschner (r.) at the opening of the main exhibition of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, May 2 2003 (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

2005

To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, the entrance to the Memorial Site is adapted to fit the actual historical circumstances. Visitors can now enter the grounds through the Jourhaus, the entrance gate to the onetime prisoners’ camp.

2009

The new Visitors’ Center is opened on April 29 2009.

From left to right: Foundation director Karl Freller, Rachel Salamander, owner of the Literaturhandlung bookstore, Minster President Horst Seehofer and Karin Seehofer at the opening of the new Visitors’ Center. (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

Foundation director Karl Freller, Rachel Salamander, owner of the Literaturhandlung bookstore, Minister President Horst Seehofer and Karin Seehofer at the opening of the new Visitors’ Center (from left to right), April 29 2009 (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

2014

On the night of November 1-2 2014, unknown persons steal the historical postern with the inscription “Arbeit macht frei” (“work sets you free”) from the Jourhaus gate. It is replaced by a replica the following year.

Press briefing in front of the Jourhaus. In the background is the gate with the missing postern. From left to right: members of the press, Dr Gabriele Hammermann, director of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, police director Thomas Rauscher, head of the Dachau police branch, and Dr Ludwig Spaenle, Culture Minister. (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

Press briefing on the theft of the gate with Dr Gabriele Hammermann, director of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, police director Thomas Rauscher, head of the Dachau police branch, and Dr Ludwig Spaenle, Culture Minister (from left to right), November 2014 (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)

2015

On the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, around 130 former prisoners and liberators, accompanied by their families, take part in the commemorative ceremonies. The Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel thanks the survivors for their involvement in education programs as contemporary witnesses and commemorates the dead of the Dachau concentration camp.

The Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel walks alongside the Dachau survivor Max Mannheimer, who is sitting in a wheelchair. Max Mannheimer has hooked his arm into the chancellor’s. (Sebastian Freller)

Dr Angela Merkel with the survivor Max Mannheimer (Sebastian Freller)

2017

On February 22 2017, the stolen gate with the inscription “Arbeit macht frei” returns to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The gate was found in a carpark in the Norwegian city of Bergen. It is being restored and will be presented in a display case as part of the main exhibition.

Press briefing on the former roll call area. The postern with the historical inscription “Arbeit macht frei” is placed upright for photographers. The gate is meanwhile corroded. Standing beside the gate are Jean Michel Thomas, the president of the CID, Karl Freller, the Foundation director, and Dr Ludwig Spaenle, Culture Minister.

Press briefing on the return of the gate with the CID president Jean Michel Thomas, Foundation director Karl Freller, and Culture Minister Dr Ludwig Spaenle (from left to right), February 22 2017 (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)