US Ambassador opens special exhibition
Created: 04/24/2022, 19:25
Prominent keynote speaker: The new US Ambassador to Germany, Dr.
Amy Gutman.
© dpa
A new special exhibition opens in the Dachau concentration camp memorial: “Dachau Trials – Crimes, Procedures and Responsibility”.
Dachau – The new special exhibition in the Dachau concentration camp memorial is entitled “Dachau Trials – Crimes, Procedures and Responsibility”.
It wants to show the crime scenes, provide information about the legal basis, introduce court staff, the accused and witnesses and give an overview of individual procedures and their consequences.
The broad media response to the procedure is also discussed.
The exhibition deals with one of the largest complexes of Nazi trials, which is still overshadowed by the better-known Nuremberg trials.
The questions of justice and dealing with the past discussed at the time are still relevant today.
Opening on 77.
anniversary
The exhibition will be officially opened on April 29th - the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.
In addition to greetings from Dr.
Gabriele Hammermann, head of the concentration camp memorial, as well as a curator's tour through the Dr.
Christoph Thonfeld, Head of the Scientific Department of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, the exhibition team, the Ambassador of the United States, Dr.
Amy Gutmann speaking at the opening.
Interrogations, witness statements and Nazi documents
About the exhibition “Dachau Trials – Crimes, Procedures and Responsibility”: How can justice be achieved?
Who can be held responsible for mass crimes?
Such questions faced the American liberators of German concentration camps in 1945.
The US Army also faced an apocalyptic situation in and around the Dachau concentration camp: They found mountains of corpses and survivors who were often on the verge of death, both physically and mentally.
What law could be applied to the mass crimes at Dachau concentration camp and the other camps liberated by the US Army?
A place of remembrance and remembrance
On March 22, 1933, the Nazi regime opened one of the first concentration camps in Dachau.
By the time it was liberated on April 29, 1945, more than 200,000 prisoners from over 40 nations were imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp and its satellite camps.
At least 41,500 people died there of starvation, disease, torture, murder and the consequences of being imprisoned in a concentration camp.
Thanks to the initiative of the survivors, 20 years after the liberation, in May 1965, the former prisoner camp was converted into a place of remembrance and remembrance.
The aim of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial is to commemorate the suffering and death of the prisoners and to promote a discussion of National Socialist crimes.
The sponsor of the concentration camp memorial is the Bavarian Memorials Foundation, a foundation under public law with the purpose of preserving and designing the memorials as witnesses to the crimes of National Socialism, as places of remembrance of the suffering of the victims and as places of learning for future generations .
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Nazi documents that were recovered, testimonies from survivors and extensive interrogations of suspects created the basis for the Dachau trials (1945–1948).
Crimes committed outside the camps against captured Allied soldiers and civilians were also tried here.
dr
Amy Gutmann took office as U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany in February 2022.
From 2004 to 2022 she was President of the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2009, she was appointed by then-US President Barack Obama to chair the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, which she chaired for seven years.
By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Dachau newsletter.
In addition to her commitment to expanding access to education, Dr.
Gutmann is also used for innovative research that provides vital insights.
She has also published numerous articles on the concrete benefits and ethical aspects of constitutional democracy, education, health care and human rights.
Daughter and granddaughter of Alfred Laurence come to talk
On the evening of April 29, the daughter and granddaughter of Alfred Edward Laurence, a Dachau survivor and later US soldier and war crimes investigator, spoke to Dr.
Christoph Thonfeld, head of the scientific department of the memorial.
The event language is English.
An interpreter translates the conversation simultaneously.
The new special exhibition is closely linked to the biography of Alfred Edward Laurence, who was a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp between February and October 1937.
Afterwards there will be an opportunity to ask questions from the audience.
It starts at 7 p.m. in the memorial’s visitor center.
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