"Wir waren die Ersten" - Szenische Lesung in Erinnerung an die ersten Häftlinge des KZ Dachau

Over the coming weeks, the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial will be commemorating the first prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp with the staged reading "We were the first". The texts will be read by Katja Amberger, Burchard Dabinnus, Thomas Huber and Robert Spitz, who are known to audiences from film and theater productions. The readings will take place on Sunday, November 26, 2023, in the small concert hall in the Fat Cat (interim use of the Gasteig) and on Sunday, December 10, 2023, in the cinema hall of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial at 11.00 a.m. as a matinee. Admission is free, registration is requested. Before the reading at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, there will be an opportunity for an introductory tour of the site at 10.00 a.m. (meeting point at 9.45 a.m. in the visitor center).

Reading in memory of the prisoners in the early phase of Dachau concentration camp

Immediately after the transfer of power to Adolf Hitler on January 30, 1933, the persecution of political opponents of National Socialism began. In the weeks that followed, basic rights were largely suspended, serious changes to the law were passed and the first concentration camps were set up, leaving political opponents at the mercy of the National Socialists without rights or protection.

The staged reading primarily commemorates the first prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp: Communists, Social Democrats, trade unionists and individual members of the Bavarian People's Party. Some had already served prison sentences for their resistance activities before being transferred to Dachau concentration camp. The police authorities also imprisoned people who had made critical remarks about the regime or the concentration camps. Numerous prisoners were soon released. However, some of the Nazi opponents remained imprisoned for years, some for the entire twelve years of Nazi rule.

The prisoners, who were Jewish by Nazi definition, suffered particular abuse at the hands of the camp SS.

In collaboration with dramaturge Boris Heczko, the scientific department of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, under the direction of Dr. Christoph Thonfeld, has created a collage of texts from archival materials, impressive memories of former prisoners and relatives, political speeches, contemporary historical documents, interviews and excerpts from regional, national and international newspaper articles. The texts are read by the actors and speakers Katja Amberger, Burchard Dabinnus, Thomas Huber and Robert Spitz.

Accompanying program of the current special exhibition

The reading is part of the accompanying program of the special exhibition "Prelude to Terror - Early Concentration Camps under National Socialism" with the addition "The First Bavarian Concentration Camp" specifically about Dachau concentration camp, which can be seen at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial up to and including Sunday, 10 December 2023.

The text version incorporates parts of the script of the reading "ʻIt all began with usʼ - The first prisoners of Dachau concentration camp in 1933" from 2013. This reading was the result of a research project by Dr. Gabriele Hammermann, in which Dr. Ludwig Eiber, Dr. Andreas Heusler and Friedbert Mühldorfer were also involved.

Further information can be found on the website of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial.

"We were the first"
Reading in memory of the first prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp

Speakers: Katja Amberger, Burchard Dabinnus, Thomas Huber, Robert Spitz
Dramaturgy: Boris Heczko

Sunday, November 26, 2023 | 11.00 a.m.
Small concert hall, Fat Cat (interim use of the Gasteig cultural center)
Kellerstraße 8a, 81667 Munich
Link: https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/veranstaltungen/wir-waren-die-ersten/

Sunday, December 10, 2023 | 11.00 a.m.
Cinema hall, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
Pater-Roth-Str. 2a, 85221 Dachau
Link: https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/veranstaltungen/wir-waren-die-ersten-2/

Before the reading "We were the first" on December 10, 2023, there will be an introductory tour of the grounds of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial at 10:00 a.m. (meeting point at 9:45 a.m. in the visitor center). Ulrich Unseld, archive educator in the education department, will give an overview of the historical geography of the early Dachau concentration camp (1933-37).

Admission is free. Registration is requested.

The venues are barrier-free.
The offer is not suitable for persons under the age of 13.

Prelude to Terror - Early Concentration Camps under National Socialism with the addition "The First Bavarian Concentration Camp" | Exhibition
March 22 to December 10, 2023
Open daily, 9 am - 5 pm
Admission is free.
www.auftakt-des-terrors.de

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial
Barrack East
Pater-Roth-Str. 2a
85221 Dachau

Link: https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/sonderausstellungen/auftakt-des-terrors-fruehe-konzentrationslager-im-nationalsozialismus/