GERMANY may be poised to break a long-standing taboo by charging an entrance fee to concentration camp memorial sites.

Peter Dietz de Loos, president of the International Dachau Committee — named after the first concentration camp of the Nazi regime near Munich — said the camps desperately needed the money for renovations, staff and daily upkeep.

Jewish groups, politicians and former prisoners of the Nazis have spoken out against the plan, calling it shameless.

They point out that concentration camps, where millions were murdered, are also cemeteries and as such should be free to everyone.