Germany. Bayern state. The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The Jourhaus was the entrance and exit to the prisoners' camp. English tourists and their digital photo cameras. The SS had the saying "Arbeit macht frei" ["Work sets you free"] mounted in the gate. This humiliating gate inscription was also used at the Auschwitz concentration camp. On the one hand this saying reflected the aim of SS propaganda to play down what was happening in the camp, namely that the...
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Germany. Bayern state. The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The Jourhaus was the entrance and exit to the prisoners' camp. English tourists and their digital photo cameras. The SS had the saying "Arbeit macht frei" ["Work sets you free"] mounted in the gate. This humiliating gate inscription was also used at the Auschwitz concentration camp. On the one hand this saying reflected the aim of SS propaganda to play down what was happening in the camp, namely that the concentration camps were supposedly merely "labor and re-education camps", while on the other hand it displayed the cynical attitude of the SS towards the prisoners.On march 22, 1933, the first concentration camp was opened in Dachau by the Nazis. It became a model for all later concentration camps established under the control of the SS men and the Third Reich. © 2007 Didier Ruef
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