Angela Merkel became the first German chancellor to visit the former Nazi concentration camp of Dachau near Munich, and she expressed sorrow and laid a wreath in memory of the victims.
She made a short speech saying that “Dachau stands for a horrible camp for political prisoners.” She added, “The memory of the fate of the victims fills me with deep sorrow and shame.” “At the same time, this place is a constant warning: how did Germany reach the point of taking away the right of people to live because of their origin, their religion, or their sexual orientation?” She highlighted that her visit was intended to be “a bridge from history to the present and into the future that we want to continue to build.“
Dachau camp first opened in 1933 just weeks after Adolf Hitler became chancellor. While more than 200,000 Jews, homosexuals, Gipsies, POWs, and the disabled were interned at the camp, at least 41,000 peopled were killed.
