‘We remember’: Vance visits Dachau with concentration camp survivor
US vice president and second lady tour memorial near Munich en route to city’s annual security conference and meeting with Zelensky
DACHAU, Germany (AP) — US Vice President JD Vance visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial on Thursday, walking the solemn halls with a group that included a Holocaust survivor once held at the site of so much suffering and mass murder, and experiencing firsthand a powerful symbol of World War II.
The tour came amid an ongoing war in Europe in which Vance is serving as a key conduit for the Trump administration. The US vice president on Friday will hold critical talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the three-year Russia-Ukraine conflict.
A light rain and sleet mix fell as Vance and his wife Usha spoke to a group of dignitaries near one of the concentration camp’s gates. The couple then listened intently to details about the camp from its director and other museum officials. Among those participating was Abba Naor, a Holocaust survivor who was held at Dachau.
Holding hands, Vance and his wife eventually moved inside and to a long concrete room in front a large map plotting concentration camps. The area had been Dachau’s administrative room.
They next saw the intake room, where those interred arrived at the camp. It included a series of museum cases filled with personal belongings of those who were held there, like watches and government ID cards.
“That’s where you started?” Vance asked Naor.
Both Joe Biden, during the administration of US President Barack Obama, and Mike Pence, in Trump’s first term, also visited the Dachau memorial as US vice presidents.
Vance laid a wreath with a red, white and blue ribbon stenciled with “We remember” and “United States of America” embossed in gold lettering at a large sculpture known as the International Monument. Inaugurated in 1968, the monument was designed by Nandor Glid, who was persecuted as a Jew by the Germans in his home country Yugoslavia, and joined the resistance to German occupation forces.
On Friday, Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are set to meet with Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. They’ll discuss Trump’s intensifying push for Ukraine and Russia to begin negotiations to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Meanwhile, Vance saw firsthand the site of some of Nazi Germany’s earliest atrocities — a testament to contemporary world powers’ failure to rein in Adolf Hitler.
Dachau was established in 1933, the year Hitler took power. More than 200,000 people from across Europe were held at the camp, and more than 40,000 prisoners died there in horrendous conditions. US soldiers completed the liberation of Dachau on April 29, 1945, days before Germany surrendered.
Vance, a Republican, is on a five-day visit to France and Germany, his first overseas travel since becoming US vice president last month.
The moment at Dachau gave Vance a chance to reflect on the scourges of war just as Trump is ratcheting up his efforts to end the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump on Wednesday spoke separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. Trump said that he and Putin agreed it was time to “start negotiations immediately” to end the war.
And, as Trump announced his agreement on negotiations with Putin, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic. Hegseth also suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning back all the territory occupied by Russia, and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.
Trump subsequently said he thought that analysis was correct. He was noncommittal about whether Ukraine should be an equal partner in case the US and Russia engage in more substantive negotiations to end the war.
Besides his talks with Zelensky, Vance is scheduled to deliver a Friday address to the security conference. The war in Europe and NATO members’ defense spending are expected to be front and center for the world leaders gathering in Munich.
Vance, like Trump, has been a sharp critic of US allies’ spending what the administration deems too little on their defense budgets.
“The Trump administration has been clear that we care a lot about Europe,” Vance said during a meeting this week with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “But we also want to make sure that we’re engaged in a security partnership that’s both good for Europe and the United States.”
Over nearly three years of war, 50 countries, known as the Ukraine Contact Group, have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the US, which has served as chair of the group since its creation.
Trump, in his 2024 campaign, derided the enormous amount of US military aid poured into Ukraine and vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours of returning to the White House.
Since his November election victory over his Democratic rival, then-US Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump and his advisers have dialed back on their boldest timelines and set a goal of ending the war in about six months.
