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Album: Germany 2010
Image: 1422 / 3108
Date: 2010-04-09 14:57:55
Tags: Concentration Camp, Dachau, Germany, Munich

Jourhaus

The gatehouse and office building of the SS was built in 1936. Newly arriving prisoners were forced to pass through the gate with the inscription "Work brings freedom."

The name given to the building goes back to the 24-hour duty performed by SS guards. From the sentry post on the ground floor their controlled access to the prisoner camp and operated the alarm system as well as the power supply for the electrified camp fence.

Also located in the Jourhaus were the interrogation rooms of the Political Department / Gestapo and the offices of the block and report leaders. The offices of the preventive custody camp leaders, responsible for the running of the prisoner camp, were on the upper floor. Prisoners accused by the SS of violating the camp rules were interrogated here and sentenced to corporal punishment or torture. The prisoners therefore considered the Jourhaus to be the center of SS rule over the camp.