Vice President JD Vance made a visit to Nazi Germany’s longest-operating concentration camp on Thursday, a day ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the current ongoing conflict in Europe.
The Dachau camp, located in Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany, was one of the first concentration sites built by the Nazis in 1933 and run until it was liberated by U.S. armed forces in 1945.
As American soldiers approached on April 26, 1945, there were over 67,600 registered prisoners in the main camp and its smaller sub-camps — with 43,350 being political prisoners and 22,100 being Jewish, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“Starting that day, the Germans forced more than 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, on a death march from Dachau to Tegernsee far to the south,” the museum stated. “During the death march, the Germans shot anyone who could no longer continue; many also died of hunger, cold, or exhaustion. On April 29, 1945, American forces liberated Dachau. As they neared the camp, they found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies brought to Dachau, all in an advanced state of decomposition.”
By early May, the American military was able to liberate the remaining prisoners who had been forced on the death march.
Second lady Usha Vance also attended the tour with the vice president, where they spoke to 96-year-old Holocaust survivor Abba Naor, Bavaria politician Karl Freller, the director of the Bavaria Memorial Foundation, and other officials at the Dachau Memorial grounds.
“I’ve read a lot about the Holocaust in books,” the VP said, according to the Associated Press. “But being here, and seeing it up close in person, really drives home what unspeakable evil was committed and why we should be committed to ensuring that it never happens again.”
Naor, who was just 17 when he was liberated from the camp, showed Vance a prisoner card.
“I’m still here,” the Holocaust survivor said.
Vance, with a hand on Naor’s shoulder, said, “Well, we’re very lucky you’re here.”
The Vances laid a large wreath of greenery and white flowers with a red, white and blue sash reading, “We remember,” and “United States of America” at the foot of Dachau’s International Monument statue:
JD Vance and his wife Usha lay a wreath at the Dachau concentration camp. pic.twitter.com/s2lZ9LqUBO
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2025
“I really am really moved by this site,” the vice president later said, adding that it is “very important that [the camp is] here, and it’s very important that those of us who are lucky enough to be alive and can walk around, can know what happened here and commit ourselves to do everything to prevent it from happening again.”
The second couple’s trip, which comes a bit over two months before the 80th anniversary of Dachau’s liberation, highlighted the consequences of war ahead of Vance’s Friday talk with Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference, where they will also be joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump spoke with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin in separate phone calls on Wednesday, reporting that the talks with both leaders were productive and a step towards peace between the two nations.
“… As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE.’ We both believe very strongly in it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In a follow-up post after this conversation with the Ukrainian president, he added that Zelensky, “like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
