Catholic Carmelite Convent at Dachau
Convent built in 1963 behind north wall of former
camp
The Carmelite Convent, called Karmel
Heilig-Blut, was designed by Josef Wiedemann, the same architect
who designed the Catholic Church and its bell tower. The foundation
stone was laid by Dr. Johannes Neuhäusler, a former inmate
in the camp, at a ceremony on April 28, 1963. The spot where
the convent was built was formerly a pond that was filled with
gravel when the Nazis rebuilt the camp in 1937. Construction
started in August 1963 and the finished convent was dedicated
on November 22, 1964.
The convent, located just outside the
north wall of the
Memorial Site at Dachau, presents an intriguing sight because
of its buildings with roof lines resembling those of the barracks
in the former camp, as the photograph above shows. The convent
grounds are quite large, although not much is visible from inside
the Memorial Site. There are 21 buildings, shaped like concentration
camp barracks, where the 21 residents of the convent live. The
Convent complex includes a church. One of the three church bells
is from Stadelheim prison, the place from which some of the first
political prisoners were transferred to the Dachau camp when
it opened on March 22, 1933. This bell sounded the death knell
for German anti-Nazi resistance fighters in an organization called
the White Rose, who were executed for treason at Stadelheim.
The idea of having a convent at a former
concentration camp is not unique to Dachau. In 1984, Carmelite
nuns opened a convent just outside the main camp at Auschwitz,
in a building formerly used by the SS as a theater, until they
were forced to move because of Jewish protests. There have also
been protests about the Carmelite Convent at Dachau. As the photograph
below shows, the Jewish Memorial, which was built in 1967, stands
very close to the convent and the small gold cross on top of
the convent Church can be seen by Jewish visitors who come there
to pray.
Jewish Memorial in
front of Convent, dedicated May 7, 1967
The entrance to the convent church is
through one of the original guard towers which was still standing
in 1960 when the Catholic Church of the Mortal Agony of Christ
was dedicated. This guard tower has been remodeled, as shown
in the photograph directly below. When the camp was in operation,
the only doors into the guard towers were from outside the camp.
Entrance to convent
through camp guard tower
After entering through the guard tower,
visitors see a small courtyard surrounded on three sides by the
convent church and two of the barrack style buildings. In the
photograph below you can see the front of the church on the north
side of the courtyard with one of the buildings with a barrack
roof line at the right. Even the church has the same pitched
roof as the other buildings and continues the concentration camp
architectural theme. The two buildings, which flank the church
and form two sides of the courtyard, have covered verandas. The
building on the left, not shown here, has a glass case on the
wall where the purple robe worn by Bishop Johannes Neuhäusler
is displayed along with other religious artifacts. Dr. Neuhäusler,
a former inmate in the Dachau camp, headed the projects to build
both the convent and the Church of the Mortal Agony of Christ.
Entrance to Convent
Church at Dachau Memorial Site
The photograph below shows the interior
of the church. Instead of the usual stained glass windows typically
found in Catholic churches, the convent church is lit by sky
lights. The grave of Dr. Neuhäusler, who died on December
14, 1973, can be seen beside the small white altar.
Altar inside Catholic
Church in Carmelite Convent
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