US vice president visits former Nazi concentration camp

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and his wife Karen listen to a guide during a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp in Dachau near Munich, southern Germany, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, one day after he attended the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and his wife Karen listen to a guide during a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp in Dachau near Munich, southern Germany, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, one day after he attended the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

By Associated Press February 19, 2017 1 min read

DACHAU, Germany (AP) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is touring the site of a former Nazi concentration camp.

Pence is paying a somber visit to the Dachau (DAH’-khow) camp near Munich that was established by the Nazis in 1933. The vice president has been joined by a survivor of the camp and other officials.

More than 200,000 people from across Europe were held at Dachau, and more than 40,000 prisoners died there. The camp was liberated by U.S. forces in April 1945.

Pence spoke at the Munich Security Conference of foreign diplomats and defense officials on Saturday and was traveling to Brussels later Sunday for meetings with NATO and European Union officials.

In 2015, then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited the site with his granddaughter during a trip to Germany.