Versöhnungskirche, Protestant church on the Dachau concentration camp memorial site, Germany
The Reconciliation Church is a low concrete building of angled, faceted walls in pale grey, built 1965–1967 to Helmut Striffler's design. A rectangular section with a small louvered vent stands forward on the left; from it a wall slopes down to the right into a wedge profile, with a recessed dark horizontal opening beneath and a long low ledge along the base. Thin vertical joints separate the panels.
The Protestant Church of Reconciliation was built from 1965 to 1967 to plans by architect Helmut Striffler on the grounds of the Dachau concentration camp memorial. The foundation stone was laid on 8 May 1965 by Präses Kurt Scharf, and the church was consecrated on 30 April 1967. Former prisoners had expressly asked for a church, and Martin Niemöller, himself once held at Dachau, became its first preacher.
The church is run by the Evangelical Church in Germany, which owns it, while the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria supplies the staff. Since 2007 the Stiftung Evangelische Versöhnungskirche in der KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau has supported its work, and a board with members from several countries oversees it. Staff lead tours of the former camp and take part in the annual International Youth Meeting in Dachau.
Access to the building runs through the concentration camp memorial grounds and is easiest during the memorial's regular operating hours. Visitors should expect a short walk and consider the structure as part of a larger commemorative site.
The entrance stairway widens at the top like open arms, one reaching toward the memorial grounds, the other toward the Catholic chapel and the Jewish prayer room. A pivoting steel gate by Fritz Kühn carries Psalm 57 in four languages: "Be merciful unto me, O God" — refuge under the shadow of thy wings.
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