Vice President JD Vance toured the Dachau concentration camp in Germany on Thursday ahead of the Munich Security Conference and a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy set for Friday.

Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, toured the site that has become a powerful symbol of the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against Jews and other minority groups during World War II.

“What happened here should never happen again,” Vance said to a group of dignitaries near the entrance to the camp.

Vice President JD Vance visits the Dachau concentration camp on Feb. 13, 2025, after his arrival in Bavaria to commemorate the victims and survivors of the Nazi terror regime and the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by American forces on April 29, 1945.  (Peter Kneffel/picture alliance via Getty Images)

More than 200,000 people were held at Dachau between 1933-1945 and experts believe that more than 40,000 people were killed there. 

Vance is the latest top American official to visit the site. It was toured by President Joe Biden, both as vice president during the Obama administration and as commander in chief, as well as by Vice President Mike Pence during the first Trump administration. 

“I really am really moved by this site,” Vance said. “It’s very important that it’s here, and it’s very important that those of us who are lucky enough to be alive and can walk around, can know what happened here and commit ourselves to do everything to prevent it from happening again.”

Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance lay a wreath at the former Dachau concentration camp, Feb. 13, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Vance’s five-day trip to Europe will also include his attendance of the Munich Security Conference, which begins Friday. 

There he will meet with world leaders, including Zelenskyy, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Vance and the Ukrainian president are expected to discuss President Donald Trump’s plans to end the three-year-long war.