14 May 2007
The head of the International Dachau Committee has called for the introduction of an entrance fee to the site of the former Nazi concentration camp near Munich. At a ceremony marking the 62nd anniversary of the camp's liberation, Pieter J. Ph. Dietz De Loos, a Dutch survivor of Dachau, told the audience that a contribution from each of the 800,000 annual visitors would help pay for educational programs and additional staff. It would be the only such site in Germany to charge for admission.
The suggestion has drawn criticism from survivors and from directors of other memorial sites in Germany. Barbara Distel, director of the Dachau memorial, said that fees were charged at such sites "in France, but not in Germany."
The admissions idea is reportedly to be discussed this week at a meeting of leaders of memorial sites in Germany.
The Dachau camp is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory, about 15 miles northwest of Munich in southern Germany. Opened on 22 March 1933, Dachau was the first regular concentration camp established by the Nazis. It was liberated by American troops on 29 April 1945. Over 32,000 inmates, a third of them Jews, are believed to have died in the camp, while 10,000 died in Dachau satellite camps, primarily from disease, malnutrition and suicide.
