Looking back. Looking ahead. 2020-2025

6   FOREWORDS deepen understanding of the guided tours. Making the site digitally accessible is essential for effective preparation and follow-up. Virtual tours, digital archives and multi-media documentation enable us to preserve the voices of survivors and make them available to a wider public. In recent years, our Education Department has developed a wide range of digital initiatives. Some of the most notable examples include a multi-media application on the camp’s topography, an AR tour of the liberation of Dachau (created in collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk in 2019/20), a graphic novel entitled A Lifelong Survival and a digital tour called “Panoramas of Remembrance”. The commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the lib- eration of Dachau took place a few months ago. They were shaped by elderly survivors and the veterans who liberated the camp on 29 April 1945.We also noted a great deal of inter- est from the descendants of former prisoners, with the first “International Forum of Descendants” providing a platform for networking, promoting dialogue and fostering a joint commit- ment to remembrance. The descendants of the liberators were also very much involved in the commemorations. The 80th anniversary clearly reflected the continuing importance of the memorial’s work. Dachau, October 2025 Dr Gabriele Hammermann Director of the Dachau Memorial Ladies and Gentlemen, The past five years at the Dachau Memorial have reflected an international site of remembrance in transition.With fewer surviving witnesses of Nazi terror, the memorial’s work must be reimagined. The long-term redesign will broaden our perspective on a place that is not only a cemetery, but also an international place of learning and a museum of contemporary history. Challenges remain in preserving buildings and materi- al relics, maintaining monuments and cemetery grounds, and managing the extensive holdings of the archive and collection. Our educational work is also evolving in new directions. These developments are unfolding against the backdrop of major political upheaval in Germany and the rest of the world: Liberal democracies are increasingly under scrutiny, authoritarian political ideas and parties are gaining support, and antisemitic conspiracy theories are shaping public discourse. In this con- text, memorial sites themselves are often called into question. They must act as sensitive gauges of social and political   developments, providing historical perspective, shaping   debates and imparting knowledge. The Dachau Memorial currently faces the challenge of creat- ing a sustainable and forward-looking place of learning and remembrance for a growing number of visitors from around the world. The exhibitions on the memorial grounds must incorporate new findings from historical research, visual and digital media, and innovative educational strategies. Historical buildings – such as the camp commandant’s office – will be integrated into the memorial with the aim of exploring new themes, including the camp’s early history (1933–1937). The preserved area of the SS experimental gardens (“plantation” / “herb garden”) will also become part of the memorial. This reorientation process will begin in 2026 when the barracks adjacent to the former roll call area, reconstructed in 1964/65, are converted into an exhibition and education centre. We are aware that public knowledge of National Socialism is declining. For this reason, the memorial increasingly offers half-day and full-day seminars to encourage reflection and Dr Gabriele Hammermann Director of the Dachau Memorial ©Viktor Jordan