'Todesangst-Christi-Kapelle'
Returning from the crematorium area and going straight ahead you will approach the 'Todesangst-Christi-Kapelle' (chapel of agony). This catholic chapel had been strongly promoted by the Munich suffragan bishop Johannes Neuhäusler, a former prisoner of the concentration camp. It was inaugurated during the eucharistic world congress on 5 August 1960. Neuhäusler wrote of the chapel's name having been determined by cardinal Josef Wendel as an "allusion to the fear of death ten thousands of inmates day and night suffered from for many years." (According to the International Tracing Service 206206 prisoners were sent to the Dachau concentration camp during the 12 years it existed).
The monumental rotunda, open to the front side, was designed by Prof. Josef Wiedemann from Munich. Its wall, made of reenforced concrete, is covered with big raw pebbles taken from the Isar river near Lenggries. Soldiers from the military airfields A in Landsberg and B in Fürstenfeldbruck took the pebbles to Dachau on their vehicles. The chapel is 13.6 meters high, has a diameter of 14.2 meters, and on top of its entrance there is a copper crown of thorns 550 kg in weight. In front of the chapel there is a skeleton tower 8 meters high with a bell weighing 3 tons. The bell was donated by former prisoners from Austria and the Austrian federal government. According to an idea of the master fitter Emmerich Hornich, a former prisoner of the Dachau camp, it had been casted by Graßmayr company in Innsbruck. The bell was consecrated on 22 July 1961 by the abbot of Schlierbach, Berthold Niedermoser. It carries an inscription analogous to "In faithful memory of our dead comrades of all nations dedicated by the Dachau priests and laymen from Austria". Every evening it rings encouraging prayers for the victims of the concentration camp. At the rear of the chapel there is a bronze plaque with a figure of Christ, donated by clergymen who had been prisoners. It was unveiled by cardinal Döpfner on 19 August 1972 and reports in different languages of the suffering of polish prisoners in Dachau.
To the left side of 'Todesangst-Christi-Kapelle' there is the protestant church of reconciliation, designed by Helmut Striffler, an architect from Mannheim. Concerning this building he wrote: "It carves a living track into the merciless grounds of the camp, a ditch sheltering from the inhuman exposure you still feel today in walking across the camp area". The church was inaugurated on 30 April 1967, when vicar Martin Niemöller was preaching, himself a former prisoner of Dachau as already mentioned.
To the right side of 'Todesangst-Christi-Kapelle' there is the Jewish monument, inaugurated on 7 May 1967. The monument on a parabolic ground plan, 9 meters high, 10 meters wide, and 15 meters long, was designed by the Frankfurt architect Hermann Zwi Guttmann. Outside and inner walls of the building are made of basalt lava. It is topped by a menorah (seven-armed candelabra) sitting on a pillar of Israeli marble coming from Pikiin. Legend claims that even under hardest circumstances at least one Jew lived in this village. This pillar symbolizes the continuity of Jewry. According to Guttmann, by extending about 2 meters below the surface the building should express the fact that during their persecution Jews were forced to live in hiding places, in shelters or in the underground. Access to this memorial is by a ramp of 18 meters, symbolizing the ramps from where many Jews were sent to the gas chambers. Inside there is the Ner Tamid (sanctuary lamp) which was lit by the rabbis.
Behind the 'Todesangst-Christi-Kapelle' you will find the expiatory convent 'Karmel Heilig-Blut' (Carmel holy blood), one of the most recent convents in Germany. Its foundation was initiated by 'Maria-Theresia of the crucified love' (1911-1970), prioress of Carmel St. Josef in Beuel-Pützchen near Bonn. Her secular name was Berta Vorbach. On 2 January 1962 she wrote in a letter to cardinal Döpfner: "On 1/1/61 I had an idea, which I never abandoned since then: A Carmel would be appropriate at the former concentration camp of Dachau, a Carmel of precious blood". Berta Vorbach was so fascinated by her idea that as early as 22 January 1962 she detailed her picture in a further letter: "All over the world Dachau is regarded as incarnation of the concentration camps. Its name will always be related to the most terrible atrocities of mankind. A place of so many sins, of so incredible sufferance must not be degraded to a neutral memorial site or even a sightseeing place. Representative expiation should take place by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and connected sacrifice and expiation of people who join him in love and obedience. The carmelite holy order is especially called to sacrificial and expiatory prayers".
On 1 August 1962 cardinal Döpfner agreed to the foundation of a convent and made suffragan bishop Neuhäusler head of the project. Like in case of the 'Todesangst-Christi-Kapelle' architect Josef Wiedemann designed the convent. He arranged the ground level buildings of the convent crosswise. According to carmelite rules a convent may only consist of up to 21 nuns. Therefore he designed 21 small buildings reminiscent of the huts of the concentration camp and aligned to the south where the camp was located.
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