US Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance on Thursday visited Dachau Concentration Camp and Memorial Site, the site of Nazi Germany’s first and longest-operating concentration camp.
The Vice President and Second Lady were greeted by Holocaust survivor Abba Naor, who was held at Dachau, Director of the Bavarian Memorial Foundation Karl Freller, as well as Dr. Gabrielle Hammerman and Dr. Dirk Riedel of the Dachau Memorial Site.
The visit to Dachau comes ahead of the Vice President's appearance at the Munich Security Conference and shortly before the 80-year anniversary of the liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp by American soldiers on April 29, 1945.
“I’ve read a lot about the Holocaust in books,” Vance said at the camp, as quoted by The Associated Press. “But being here, and seeing it up close in person, really drives home what unspeakable evil was committed and why we should be committed to ensuring that it never happens again.“
The Vice President laid a wreath with a red, white and blue ribbon stenciled with “We remember” and “United States of America” embossed in gold lettering at a large sculpture known as the International Monument.
“I really am moved by this site,” he said in subsequent comments, adding, “It’s very important that it’s here, and it’s very important that those of us who are lucky enough to be alive and can walk around, can know what happened here and commit ourselves to do everything to prevent it from happening again.”
Over 200,000 people from across Europe were imprisoned in Dachau, which was established in 1933, and over 41,000 killed.