10th Dachau Contemporary Witness Discussion

The Dachau Concentration
Camp Memorial Site invites all those interested to attend the 10^th Dachau contemporary
witness discussion; our guest on this occasion is the Dutch survivor Ernst
Sillem.

Ernst Sillem, born on
July 14, 1923 in the Netherlands,
enjoys a happy childhood and youth. He is still a school pupil as the German
Army attacks neutral Holland
on May 10, 1940. After completing his schooling in 1941 he plans to join the
British Army and take part in the war against the Germans. In August 1942,
together with a friend, he tries to reach England by sea. Unfortunately the
weather turns poor and they are picked up in their tiny boat by a German crew
and arrested.

Ernst Sillem is
categorized as a ‘night-and-fog’ prisoner and is first sent to the
concentration camps of Amersfoort and Vught in Holland, then the Natzweiler
camp in France, and finally to the Dachau subcamp of Allach. He is liberated at
the end of April 1945 while in the sick bay of the main Dachau camp. Following liberation he
immigrates to Morocco
where he grows a citrus plantation. In 1975 he moves to France where he
lives today.

The talk begins at 7 pm
in the Visitor’s Center; admission is free of charge.