International Monument at Dachau

The International Monument at the Dachau Memorial Site was formally dedicated in September, 1968. It is located between the former service building, which now houses a Museum, and the roll-call square where the prisoners formerly lined up to be counted twice a day. The photo above shows the sculpture created by Nandor Glid with the roll-call square and a reconstructed barrack in the background. The service building is behind the camera.

When the Dachau concentration camp was in operation, the area where the International Monument is located was covered with grass and there was a flower-lined path from the roll-call square up to the service building. As shown in the photo below, the former path is now covered with squares of marble and the grass and flowers have been replaced by a ramp with a zig-zag border around a field of gravel. A wall in front of the museum, at the south end of the path, is the base for a sculpture done by Yugoslavian artist Nandor Glid who won a competition for the best design. This wall obstructs the entrance to the administration building and visitors have to walk across the field of gravel and go around the sculpture to gain entry to the museum.

 

Shown in the foreground of the photograph above is the symbolic cornerstone of the International Monument which was laid in September 1956. The cornerstone is encased in Plexiglas. The inscription says "This first stone of a monument to be erected in memory of the victims of Nazism who died in the Dachau prisons in the years 1933 - 1945 was set here on 9 September 1956." In the background is the center section of the former service building where there is now a museum. The sculpture by Nandor Glid is on a wall in front of the building, as shown in the photo at the top of this page.

The monument covers a large area and includes a short wall, inscribed with the words "Never Again" in five languages, on the east side of the vast field of gravel. On the west side of the gravel bed, near the gatehouse, is another larger wall whose inscription in English reads "May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933 and 1945 because of their fight against National Socialism unite the living."

The photograph below shows an overall view of the service building with its east wing on the left. (The west wing is behind the camera.) When the camp was in operation, the building behind the sculpture had these words painted on the roof: "There is one road to freedom. Its milestones are: Obedience, Diligence, Honesty, Orderliness, Cleanliness, Sobriety, Truthfulness, Self-Sacrifice, and Love of the Fatherland." Needless to say, this Nazi slogan has long since been removed, along with almost all other vestiges of Nazi ideology in the camp. The design of the International Monument is the exact opposite of what the Nazis would have designed and, as such, it represents a protest against the Nazi regime.

The wall on the west side of the monument is shown in the center of the photograph above.

The sculpture, shown in the photograph below, is made of dark bronze. It features two symbolic fence posts with angled tops, reminiscent of those used in the camp, and short strands of barbed wire on which skeletons are hanging with their heads dangling sharply. On either side of the sculpture are concrete fence posts which closely resemble the ones actually used to support the barbed wire fence around the camp. Underneath the sculpture are the dates 1933 - 1945, the years that the camp was used as a concentration camp for anti-Nazis. Between 1945 and 1948 the camp was used as a prison for Nazis, and from 1948 until the late 1965, it was a camp for homeless German refugees. By 1960, construction had begun on the Memorial Site in honor of the anti-Nazis, while the homeless Germans were still living in the old barracks.

From behind the sculpture, one can look out at the Memorial Site with the two reconstructed barracks buildings in the foreground. The main camp road is in the middle, flanked by two rows of poplar trees. At the very end of the road, you can see the round structure that is the Catholic Church of the Mortal Agony of Christ.

From below, you can see that the sculpture by Nandor Glid is not flat, but has a depth of about four feet. Notice the hands of the skeletons which resemble the barbs on a barbed wire fence. The sculpture is approximately 48 feet wide and 19 feet tall. It symbolizes the emaciated bodies of the prisoners who died of hunger and disease in the camp.

More photographs of International Monument

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