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On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Weimar, Thuringia, politicians, survivors, relatives, and descendants gathered to commemorate the event. The US liberated the camp on April 11, 1945. The commemoration included speeches from Mario Voigt, Thuringia’s state premier, and Christian Wulff, a former German president. Wreath-laying ceremonies were also planned at the camp’s former roll-call square. Up to 10 survivors from Belarus, France, Germany, Israel, Romania, and Switzerland are expected to attend. Another ceremony will mark the liberation of the Mittelbau-Dora annex on Monday.
The Buchenwald Memorial Foundation is concerned about the future of Holocaust remembrance, as the number of survivors is decreasing and there is a rise of the far-right in Germany and across Europe. The AfD, now the largest party in Thuringia, is hostile to Germany’s “remembrance culture” and has downplayed the country’s Nazi past. The situation is further complicated by conflicts between the state of Israel and the memorial ceremony’s organizers, with Israel pressuring the foundation to cancel a speaker, Omri Boehm, due to his criticism of the Israeli government. Boehm’s invitation was eventually postponed to avoid overshadowing the event. Deputy government spokesperson Wolfgang Büchner emphasized the need for memorial sites to operate independently without external influence. The challenges to remembrance include the historic revisionism promoted by the AfD, the relativization of the Holocaust, and concerns over the rise of anti-Semitism and right-wing sentiment. Only a few survivors are expected to attend this year’s ceremony, as compared to the 300 who came in 2005.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-marks-80th-anniversary-of-buchenwald-liberation/a-72153728?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
