The 42nd International Youth Meeting Dachau took place between July 27th and August 10th, 2024. Together with our team around 80 people from 20 nations met in the Max Mannheimer House to talk about history and culture of remembrance as well as current developments.
Day 1 – Welcoming
After the arrival and the official welcoming, the participants introduced themselves to their roommates. They were divided in the six ‘color groups’ and then took part in the ‚House Rallye‘ to get to know their home for the upcoming two weeks. In the evening, the participants went to ‘Freiraum’ in Dachau for the Opening Party to get to know each other better and celebrate together.
Day 2 – Dachau
In the morning, every color group went on the ‘City Rallye’ and explored the Old Town of Da-chau in a competition. Following lunch, the teamers prepared the participants for the visit of the former concentration camp Dachau. The day ended with a lot of fun during the Pub Quiz.
Day 3 – Memorial Site Dachau
The participants walked to the concentration camp memorial site and experienced the historical place they already heard so much about. Together with their guides they learned about the history of the camp, different groups of prisoners, the development of the camp system and memorial culture since World War II. Back in the Max Mannheimer House every-one met in their color group to discuss the visit with each other and the teamers. In the evening, the first meeting with musicians, dancers and singers took place to plan the stage program for the International Garden party.
Day 4 – Munich
On the fourth day, teamers and project management went to Munich. In four smaller groups we took part in guided tours through the synagogue Ohel Jakob, the Jewish Museum, the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism and about Munich in National Socialism. The participants also enjoyed spare time to explore the city by themselves. Afterwards everyone met in a traditional beer garden.
Days 5+6 – Workshops
During the two following days everyone took part in one of our workshops: ‘Dimensions of National Socialism and its aftermath’, ‘Antisemitism in the USSR’, ‘From democracy to dictatorship – the role of early concentration camps’, ‘From prejudice to progress: understanding the roots of discrimination’, ‘Mirror of their time? Cinematic imaginations of the Nazi era and the Holocaust’ or ‘Introduction to Yiddish and Hebrew’. Furthermore, we had a movie screening of ‘The white raven’ about Max Mannheimer and a talk with the director Carolin Otto.
Day 7 – Memorial Site Kaufering and Landsberg
We visited the ‘European Holocaust Memorial’ in Kaufering to learn about the history of this former subcamp of the concentration camp Dachau, the people who were imprisoned there and the conditions they had to endure. Afterwards we went to Landsberg, a nice town nearby, where everyone had time to explore the old town on their own.
Day 8 – International Garden party
The day started with the preparations of decoration, technical equipment and last rehearsals of the performances. Participants, team and guests enjoyed the performances, the international buffett with sweets and snacks, they brought to Dachau and the different stations with fotos and various creative offers.
Day 9 – Eyewitness café
One of the highlights for every IYM Dachau is the eyewitness café. We were very thankful that Ernst Grube, David Sivor, Tomy Shacham and Katalin Szegö joined us to talk about their personal histories and experiences. The participants used the opportunity to ask questions and discuss with them. Like in the past years, the team recorded the talks to preserve those valuable testimonies for the future.
Day 10 – Eyewitness talks and Spare time
On Monday the participants had another opportunity to listen to Ernst Grube, Tomy Shacham and David Sivor telling their stories. In addition, the movie Masel Tov Cocktail was shown and discussed after. The participants used the rest of the day for reflection, playing games or just talking with each other.
Day 11 – Focus topic day ‚Antisemitism‘
The participants spent the day on this year’s focus topic antisemitism. They approached it from several perspectives in different workshops offered by the European Janusz Korczak Academy. These included ‘Preserving Humanity’, ‘Courage feels good’, ‘Treasure chest Judaika’ and ‘Conspiracy myths – not with us’. Through interactive exercises, the participants became more aware of inhuman thought patterns, learned skills to counter discrimination in daily life, got a better sense of the mechanisms of conspiracy myths and gained more insight into Jewish culture and tradition. We also discussed the forms that antisemitism can take today. In the evening the group ‘d’Ampertaler’ from Dachau came to the Max Mannheimer House to show and teach the participants traditional Bavarian dances, which they enjoyed very much like every year.
Day 12 – Workshops and Art project
The participants took part in workshops about different topics. They could choose between ‘Language Matters’, ‘Jewish Life and Culture’, ‘Jewish Music in the 20th Century’ and ‘Basics of International Law’, but also ‘Creative Writing’ and ‘Theater’. Another group which took part in the art project in the freshly renovated basement painted a huge mural after several meetings throughout IYM where they worked out the general concept and design. They were supported by the art collective ‘Outer Circle’ from Dachau. After dinner, the participants could further express themselves in the ‘Creativity Rallye’ or watch the second screening of the movie ‘Masel Tov Cocktail’.
Day 13 – Places of Remembrance and vernissage
In the morning, some participants had the second part of their workshops, some helped the team preparing the ‘Farewell party’ and the group of the art project got everything ready for the vernissage to present their results. In the afternoon, the participants split up in different groups to learn about important historical places connected to the history of the concentration camp Dachau. One group visited the massgraves on the ‘Leitenberg’ where prisoners of the concentration camp were buried. Another group went to the cemetery ‘Waldfriedhof’ in Munich. There was also the opportunity to follow the ‘path of remembrance’ in Markt Indersdorf to explore the information about a DP-camp for Jewish children that was set up there after the end of World War II. The last group got to know the story around the so called ‘herbal garden’ and the ‘plantation’ better.
The day ended with an exhibition and the presentation of the impressive result of the art project in the basement of the hostel.
Day 14 – Trip to Starnberg
On our last day we went on a trip to Lake Starnberg where everyone enjoyed the sunny weather and the chance to swim or play volleyball. Finally, after dinner, everyone joined for the last time to celebrate at the ‘Farewell Party’ in ‘Juz Ost’ in Dachau.
Day 15 – Farewell
Like every year, after two very intense weeks, it was hard to say goodbye to each other. We hope to meet you all again.