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‘A moment to reflect’: Stonehaven Tartan Army members pay emotional visit to German concentration camp

Doreen Bruce and John Masson joined a bagpiper from Perth, who played the symbolic Scottish instrument for what is believed to be the first time at the Dachau site.

A Stonehaven woman who is in Germany following Scotland at the Euros says she will “never forget” her visit to a concentration camp.

Doreen Bruce, 57, and 54-year-old friend John Masson are travelling round the country while taking in Scotland’s matches at the tournament.

In addition to watching their team play, they are also taking in as much of the country as they can, including visiting Dachau’s concentration camp.

It is only 11 miles from Munich’s Allianz Arena, where Scotland kicked off their Euro 2024 campaign with a 5-1 defeat to hosts Germany.

Dachau Concentration Camp near Munich.
Dachau Concentration Camp is located near Munich. Image: Doreen Bruce.

Dachau’s was one of the first concentration camps to be set up by the Nazis.

In its 12 years of existence – before it was liberated by US soldiers in 1945 – more than 200,000 people were imprisoned at Dachau, including the Jewish president of FC Bayern Munich, Kurt Landauer.

At least 41,500 people died there and its satellite sites from hunger, disease, torture, murder and the consequences of imprisonment.

Doreen Bruce and John Masson at a concert in Germany.
The Scotland fans have been travelling around Germany during their Euro 2024 trip. Image: Doreen Bruce.

‘We vow to let football unite us’

During Ms Bruce and Mr Masson’s visit, they were invited to take part in a procession at the camp as part of the “Football and Remembrance” programme for Euro 2024.

Organisers said: “People from all continents will come to us to peacefully celebrate and support their teams. The fascination of our sport will be felt everywhere.

“Nevertheless, we also want to use this tournament to remember the dark sides of German history and reflect for a moment.”

Fans from Scotland, Germany, Israel and some other countries laid wreaths and football shirts at the camp’s memorial site at the weekend, where it was vowed that such atrocities would happen “never again” and to use football as a way to unite people.

The group toured the camp and heard how Nazis had persecuted Jewish footballers and coaches, as well as forcing prisoners to play football for propaganda before banning it completely.

They then allowed some inmates to play under the camp’s “hierarchy of privileges” from 1943 for different categories of prisoner, although Jewish people were prevented from doing so.

Wreaths and football shirts left at Dachau Concentration Camp.
Wreaths and football shirts were left at the site. Image: Doreen Bruce.

Those in attendance, including four men from Falkirk, also heard the children of former camp victims tell their parents’ stories.

They also walked in procession with a bagpiper from Perth, which is believed to be the first time bagpipes have been played there.

Mrs Bruce spoke to one man whose father survived at the camp.

She told The P&J: “To hear his story was emotional, because you think his dad survived that, but how it affected his whole family.

Memorial wall at the camp near Munich.
Dachau Concentration Camp was liberated by the US Army in 1945. Image: Doreen Bruce.

“I don’t know how many brothers or sisters the guy had, but he said he used to say to his dad as he got a little bit older, ‘dad, can you stop talking about it, because it’s traumatising everybody?’

“He said his dad used to wake up in the night, crying and screaming, and then when his dad passed away, he told me ‘I’ve started talking about it’.

“The way they treated people was horrendous, absolutely horrendous. They just labelled people with a number and a colour.”

Oven crematorium at Dachau Concentration Camp.
It was a harrowing experience for Ms Bruce and Mr Masson. Image: Doreen Bruce.

The most moving part for Mrs Bruce was seeing moving images of the atrocities of the concentration camp when it was liberated.

She said: “I found that hard to watch, because it’s one thing hearing about it and seeing photos, but to see the moving images was very upsetting.”

Mrs Bruce – the daughter of a Gordon Highlander – will also be visiting the town of Minden, where she lived for a short while as a baby when her father was serving in the military.

“I’m actually going back to the street I lived on,” she said.

“The way I look at it, I don’t go to a country and just go to football and sit in the pub – I want to do things.”

‘Every single German I have met has been so nice’

If Scotland fails to overcome the odds and do not win the Euros, Mrs Bruce will be backing the hosts for glory, saying: “Every single German I have met have been so nice.

“I’d go for them to win it, just on the kindness that everybody has shown us.”

Mrs Bruce and her friend John are originally from Stonehaven but now live in Romford in east London and Arbroath respectively.

Although she has lived in London since 1986, Mrs Bruce proudly told us: “I’ve lived in London longer than I’ve lived in Scotland, but Stoney will always be home.”

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