Kazerne Dossin Mechelen

Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen is a Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre dedicated to the Holocaust and human rights. During the Second World War, the barracks served as an SS assembly camp from which more than 25,000 Jews and 353 Roma and Sinti were deported to the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The museum opened in 2012 in a newly designed building by architect Bob Van Reeth, opposite the original barracks. Today it is one of Belgium's most important commemorative sites.

The museum was designed to be fully accessible. The main entrance is step-free, and all three floors of exhibition space are reachable by a spacious lift. The exhibition uses photographs, objects, audio fragments and testimonies, consistently placed at heights easy for wheelchair users to read. The adjacent original barracks building with the Memorial is also fully accessible. An adapted toilet is provided on each floor, and documentation is available in several languages, including braille.

The museum has its own car park with several accessible spaces. Mechelen station is within walking distance and is fully accessible thanks to lifts and ramps. The area around Dossin Barracks has been redesigned with wide pavements and is excellently suited for wheelchair users. A visit to Kazerne Dossin is a powerful and informative experience that can stand alone or be combined with a walk through Mechelen.