Jourhaus (Dachau Concentration Camp)
The Jourhaus was a building in the inmate area of the Dachau concentration camp and is now the entrance to the memorial. The name Jour is derived from "Jourdienst" = daily service (from French jour day).
In 1933 prisoners were still housed in the buildings of the old ammunition factory. Four years later, the SS had the new, large prisoner area between the Würm and the Alte Römerstraße built with the symmetrically arranged wooden barracks and bordered with fences. The Jourhaus was also built in 1937. It was the only through building from the SS compound to the inmate compound. The SS guard rooms were in the Jourhaus and guarded the passage. Some of the camp administration's offices were also in the building (camp Gestapo , protective custody camp leader , block and report leader). At night the SS were on the towers and in the Jourhaus, only on some days did they check the barracks at night.
The Jourhaus was the only access to the new prisoner compound. Newly arriving prisoners went through the camp's admission procedure here.
During propaganda visits that took place up until 1938, visitors passed through the gate with the inscription “ Arbeit macht frei ”. The prisoners of the crematorium work detachment had to go through this building to bring the deceased from the prison campus to the crematorium, which was located on the SS premises.
When the camp was liberated on April 29, 1945, US troops first entered the SS premises. Then they got to the Jourhaus and shot at it. A white flag was hoisted in the watchtowers. Then the prison camp was liberated. Later the question arose who had entered the prisoner camp first, cf. Marguerite Higgins , or which American unit had ultimately liberated the concentration camp.
The Gusen I concentration camp also had an entrance building that bore the name Jourhaus and was designed in a similar way, albeit a little smaller.
On the night of November 2, 2014, the historic entrance door was stolen by unknown perpetrators through the central, approximately six-meter-wide gate in the Dachau Jourhaus. The door contains the letters “ Arbeit macht frei ”, reconstructed in 1972 . A good two years later, on December 2, 2016, the wrought iron door was found again in the city of Bergen in western Norway, according to Norwegian police . On February 22nd, 2017 the door was transported back to Dachau. In future, it will be on display in the museum's permanent exhibition in an alarm-secured and air-conditioned display case.
literature
- Stanislav Zámečník: (Ed. Comité International de Dachau): That was Dachau. Luxembourg 2002, ISBN 2-87996-948-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Memorial Forum
- ↑ Thieves steal the historic main entrance door of the Dachau concentration camp. In: Zeit Online , November 2, 2014
- ↑ Porten ble stålet fra en Konsentrasjonsleir - nå har den dukket opp i Ytre Arna. In: Bygdanytt.no , December 2, 2016
- ↑ News> Notes and Announcements> Reconstruction or Original? In: kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de , undated (after 1999), accessed December 3, 2016.
- ↑ The stolen gate is back in Dachau. In: Spiegel Online , February 22, 2017, accessed on the same day
Coordinates: 48 ° 16 ′ 6 ″ N , 11 ° 28 ′ 1.3 ″ E