Germany – A plan calling for entrance fees to Nazi concentration camps has rankled a major German Jewish organization. “You do not pay to mourn the dead,” a spokesman for The Central Council of Jews in Germany said.
The fees would supplement funds already provided to the sites from the federal and local German governments.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Operators of the camp museums, including Dachau’s, say that they need more funding to properly educate about the Holocaust. The International Dachau Committee’s president, Pieter Dietz de Loos, said that even though his museum north of Munich attracts 800,000 visitors a year, it can only afford to have one full-time educational assistant. “In five years we will be completely broke,” de Loos said.
Camp museum operators say there is no point in preserving the sites if there is no staff to explain the camps’ background. Günter Morsch, the supervisor of three memorial sites, said the public funding only covers operating costs, without allowing for special exhibitions or seminars. “Between a third and a half of all requests for guided tours and educational support are having to be turned down,” Morsch said. [JTA]