Chancellor Merkel Marks 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Dachau

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recalls the "unfathomable horrors everywhere" as she lays a wreath to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. Gavino Garay reports.

Merkel Expresses Her 'Deep Sorrow and Shame’ During Historic Dachau Visit

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Angela Merkel has become the first German chancellor to visit the former concentration camp at Dachau where she expressed “shame” at the crimes of the Nazi regime but faced criticism over the timing of her trip.

Ahead of an evening election rally in Dachau, the nearby Bavarian town, she toured the memorial site at the camp and spoke with Holocaust survivors. Max Mannheimer, a camp survivor who invited the German leader to visit, described the gesture as “historic”.

Describing the Nazi era as “a horrible and unprecedented chapter of our history”, Chancellor Merkel linked her act of remembrance to concerns over the rise of new far-Right extremism in Europe.

“For me this is a special moment. The memory of these fates fills me with deep sorrow and shame,” she said.

“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?.”

No German head of government has attended the camp before, although German president Horst Köhler, attended 65th anniversary commemorations in 2010. » | Jeevan Vasagar, Berlin | Tuesday, August 20, 2013

My comment:

I have a lot of time for, and a lot of respect for, Angela Merkel. She is about the only statesman/stateswoman in Europe. I take my hat off to her for visiting Dachau, and expressing her "deep sorrow and shame". Es lebe Angela Merkel! – © Mark

This comment appears here too.

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Dachau : Merkel évoque sa "tristesse"et sa "honte"

LE POINT: En campagne, la chancelière allemande a visité l'ancien camp de contentration nazi dans lequel ont péri 41.000 personnes sous Hitler.

La chancelière Angela Merkel a exprimé mardi sa "tristesse" et sa "honte" "profondes" au camp de concentration de Dachau où elle a fait une visite historique mais controversée, à près d'un mois des élections législatives. "Le souvenir des destins (fracassés des détenus) me remplit d'une tristesse et d'une honte profondes", a souligné la chancelière allemande au cours d'une brève allocution pendant sa visite, la première d'un chef de gouvernement allemand dans ce camp proche de Munich (sud). "Chaque détenu du camp de Dachau ou d'autres camps de concentration avait évidemment une histoire personnelle qui a été interrompue ou même anéantie", a souligné Angela Merkel, qui a également déposé une gerbe de fleurs avant de s'entretenir avec des survivants au cours de cette visite d'une heure. Le camp de Dachau, où figure à l'entrée la sinistre devise des nazis "Arbeit macht frei" ("le travail rend libre"), incarne "un chapitre effroyable et sans précédent de notre histoire", selon elle. » | Source AFP | mardi 20 août 2013

Merkel appelle à combattre l'extrême droite

LE POINT: En visite mardi au camp de concentration de Dachau, la chancelière allemande déclare y aller avec "un sentiment de honte et de compassion".

La chancelière allemande, Angela Merkel, qui se rend mardi au camp de concentration de Dachau, a appelé au combat contre l'extrême droite en Europe, dans son podcast hebdomadaire diffusé samedi. "Nous ne devons jamais nous résoudre à ce que de telles idées aient une place dans notre Europe démocratique", a-t-elle dit.

Mme Merkel, qui est le premier chef de gouvernement allemand à se rendre à Dachau, a déclaré y aller avec "un sentiment de honte et de compassion". "Car ce qui s'est passé dans les camps de concentration est et reste incompréhensible", a-t-elle martelé. » | Le Point.fr | samedi 17 août 2013

Allemagne : Angela Merkel va visiter le camp de Dachau

LE POINT: "C'est la première fois qu'un chef de gouvernement allemand se rend dans cet ancien camp de concentration, lieu de mémoire", a précisé un porte-parole.

La chancelière allemande, Angela Merkel, va se rendre mardi au camp de concentration de Dachau, en Bavière (sud), a annoncé mercredi son porte-parole. "C'est la première fois qu'un chef de gouvernement allemand se rend dans cet ancien camp de concentration, lieu de mémoire", a précisé ce porte-parole, Steffen Seibert, lors d'une conférence de presse gouvernementale régulière. Après un bref discours, elle déposera une couronne de fleurs devant un mémorial, puis effectuera une visite du camp, a-t-il ajouté. » | Source AFP | mercredi 14 août 2013

Dachau Concentration Camp – Liberation

New Book Reveals Horror of Nazi Camp Brothels
REUTERS: BERLIN - In 1942, the Nazis decided that forced labourers in concentration camps would work harder if they were promised sex -- so they made female prisoners work in brothels for them.

The brothels form the subject of "Das KZ Bordell" (The Concentration Camp Brothel) by Robert Sommer, a book that has been hailed as the first comprehensive account of a little known chapter of Nazi oppression in World War Two.

Sommer's 460-page work, due to be presented at the Berlin state parliament on Wednesday, explores the origins, structure and impact of the "Sonderbauten" (special buildings) run by Heinrich Himmler's SS in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.

"In the collective memory and written history of World War Two, the camp brothels were for a long time taboo," the 35-year-old Berliner told Reuters. "The former prisoners didn't want to talk about it: it was a difficult subject to handle.

"It didn't fit so easily into the postwar image of the concentration camps as monuments to suffering."

Beginning with the Austrian camp at Mauthausen in 1942, the SS opened 10 brothels, the biggest of which was in Auschwitz, in modern Poland, where as many as 21 women prisoners once worked. The last opened in early 1945, the year the war ended.

The chapter is separate from the annals of the Holocaust of European Jews. Jewish women were not recruited as prostitutes, and Jewish men were not admitted to the brothels.

Sommer estimates around 200 women inmates in total were forced to work in the brothels -- initially offered the prospect of escaping the brutality of the concentration camps.

"They were promised release after half a year if they served in the brothel. But the promises were never honoured," he said. "Later, the SS just selected women they felt were suitable."

"Jews were not allowed in. Neither were Soviet prisoners of war," he added. "Jewish women did not serve as sex workers."

Tens of thousands of captured soldiers, political prisoners and people branded socially undesirable by the Nazis, including Roma and homosexuals, were held in camps alongside the millions of Jews who died in the Holocaust.

"The idea behind the brothels was to raise productivity by providing forced labourers with added incentive," said Sommer. "Yet from what I found, it didn't work at all. Only a few people were actually in a physical condition to go to them."

According to Sommer, the use of prisoners to provide sex to other prisoners was purely a Nazi phenomenon in the war. >>> Dave Graham, Editing by Kevin Liffey | Monday, August 17, 2009

Lest We Should Ever Forget the Cruelty of Which Man Is So Capable

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>