On this 5-hour Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Tour, you’ll discover the Nazi’s first permanent concentration camp, and will learn about the prisoners they held and murdered there. Explore what has become one of the most important centers of remembrance, contemplation, and learning in Germany today with a memorial-accredited local guide.
Your Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Tour starts in front of Starbucks Coffee inside München Hauptbahnhof (main train station), beside platform 11, and it finishes back in München Hauptbahnhof.
The first permanent Nazi concentration camp
From the day the Nazis came to power in 1933, they began rounding up their opponents and putting them into makeshift prisons. Only weeks after Hitler was sworn in as the German Chancellor, Heinrich Himmler ordered the opening of the first permanent concentration camp – Dachau. On this five-hour day trip from Munich, you will learn about those first 5,000 prisoners (the Nazi’s political enemies), as well as the more than 200,000 prisoners who would be held there over the next 12 years.
The daily lives of the prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp
Your expert licensed guide will take you through the concentration camp memorial, telling you about the prisoners’ daily lives. From the brutal treatment on arrival to the Nazi categorization of their prisoners, you will see remaining buildings such as the administration building, barracks where the prisoners’ slept, the former SS training camp, and the roll-call square (Appellplatz) where prisoners could stand to attention for hours, in all weather conditions. You will hear about some of the inhumane work details the Dachau prisoners were forced to carry out, and the horrific punishments they could be handed for even the slightest infringements.
Remembering Dachau today
While Dachau concentration camp was liberated by American forces in 1945, the site was not memorialized until the 1960s, and although 32,000 deaths were registered at the camp, many prisoners’ deaths were not recorded. Today, your guide will show you the Memorial of the Unknown Prisoner, as well as taking you to see the various religious memorials around the site, and the stunning prisoner monument designed by Nandor Gild.
München Hauptbahnhof.
Your Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Tour starts in front of Starbucks Coffee (Bayerstraße 10A) inside München Hauptbahnhof (main train station), beside platform 11
Learn about the Nazi concentration camp system
Hear about the lives of the prisoners and see where they slept, worked and were punished
Remember the prisoners at the Nandor Gild monument and the Memorial to the Unknown Prisoner
See where the daily roll call took place on Appellplatz
Learn about the prisoners’ arrival at the camp and the Nazi categorization system
Dachau Concentration Camp is a must see in my opinion. My friend and I did a self tour and where there 5 hours – you could spend the entire day and not be able to read all the exhibits. It is a very somber day, but well worth it. We need to be reminded of man’s inhumanity to others and never forget what these persecuted people were put through!