Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial

The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial in Oranienburg, about 35 km north of central Berlin, preserves the site of one of the major Nazi concentration camps and of the Soviet special camp that followed it. It is one of the most visited memorial sites in Germany, with roughly half a million visitors a year, and a sober, essential day trip from Berlin for anyone who wants to understand this chapter of German history.

A short history

Prisoners were forced to build the camp from summer 1936. The SS designed it as a model and training camp: a triangular prisoner compound watched over from Tower A, the gatehouse at the base of the triangle, with a semicircular roll-call ground in front of it. From 1938 the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps, the administrative headquarters of the whole camp system, was based in Oranienburg as well.

Between 1936 and 1945 around 177,000 people from more than 40 countries were imprisoned here. Tens of thousands died of hunger, disease, forced labor and abuse, or were murdered; in the fall of 1941 alone, the SS shot more than 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war. On April 21, 1945, the SS sent some 33,000 prisoners on death marches. Soviet and Polish troops reached the camp on April 22–23 and liberated about 3,000 people left behind.

From 1945 to 1950 the Soviet secret police ran Special Camp No. 7 (later No. 1) on the same grounds. About 60,000 people were held there, and around 12,000 died. East Germany opened a national memorial in 1961; since 1993 the site has been run by the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation and fully redesigned.

What you will see

Exhibitions are placed at the historic locations themselves, so you move through the grounds as you learn. Key stops include the gate in Tower A and the roll-call ground, the reconstructed barracks with an exhibition on Jewish prisoners, the area of "Station Z" and the execution trench, the infirmary barracks with the exhibition on medicine and crime, and the museum on the Soviet special camp. A 30-minute film in English, German, French and Spanish runs in the former prisoners' kitchen.

Tickets, opening hours and tours

Admission is free (as of October 2026). The grounds and exhibitions are open daily from 8:30 am to 6 pm in the summer season and 8:30 am to 4:30 pm in winter (the memorial gives late October as the changeover). The visitor information center opens daily 8:30 am to 5 pm.

An English audio guide costs 3.50 EUR and needs no reservation. Group tours must be booked in advance through the memorial's booking site, ideally four months ahead. Many Berlin walking-tour companies also run guided English-language day trips. Plan three to five hours on site, and dress for the weather: much of the visit is outdoors.

Visiting with children

The memorial states that its exhibitions and images are not suitable for children under 12, and its educational programs are designed for students aged 14 and up. This is a cemetery and place of mourning, so quiet, respectful behavior is expected. Pets are not allowed, except guide dogs, and cycling on the grounds is prohibited.

How to get there from Berlin

Take the S1 S-Bahn to Oranienburg (about 45 minutes from Friedrichstraße) or the faster RE5 regional train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof (about 25 minutes). Get off at Oranienburg, not at the Sachsenhausen station. From there it is a 20-minute walk, or take bus 804 or 821 to the "Gedenkstätte" stop. You need a Berlin ABC ticket; the Deutschlandticket is valid too. There is a parking lot at the entrance if you drive.

Is it worth visiting?

Yes, if you approach it as a memorial rather than a sightseeing stop. Sachsenhausen shows how the Nazi camp system was organized and administered, and it adds the rarely told story of the postwar Soviet camp. Nearby, Oranienburg Palace offers a quiet place to reflect afterward, and the Ravensbrück memorial further north completes the picture.