The Buchenwald concentration camp memorial near Weimar, Germany, held a ceremony for the 81st anniversary of its liberation, blending remembrance of the past with contemporary political tensions. Actor and author Hape Kerkeling delivered a speech honoring his grandfather Hermann, a Holocaust survivor, urging against forgetting and warning of right-wing populism. Kerkeling stated, "He was not a man of many words, but a man of action. His silence was like a glass wall surrounding his soul," highlighting the personal legacy of trauma.
Only two former prisoners attended: 98-year-old Alojzy Maciak from Poland and 99-year-old Andrej Moiseenko from Belarus, underscoring a stark decline from previous years—80 survivors were present at the 70th anniversary in 2015, and only 15 at the 80th in 2025. Other survivors from Israel could not travel due to suspended flights, emphasizing the fading firsthand accounts of Nazi atrocities.
Memorial director Jens-Christian Wagner opened the event with a bitter assessment, criticizing the misuse of remembrance sites "as a stage for current political conflicts driven by particular agendas and attempts at self-promotion." He pointed to right-wing extremists attacking memory culture as a "cult of guilt," while noting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gains up to 40% support in Thuringia, where it is classified as extremist by domestic intelligence.
The commemoration was shadowed by Middle East conflicts, with Wagner citing "left-authoritarian and, in some cases, antisemitic groups" trying to hijack the day for political purposes. The "Initiative Kufiyas" group planned a vigil focusing on Palestine, but a court banned it. Fears of protests led to heightened security, with over 15 police vans near Weimar station and checks on shuttle buses to the memorial.
During the speech by Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media Wolfram Weimer, hecklers from a left-wing bloc chanted "Alerta antifascista" and occasional shouts of "Fascist," which Wagner later condemned as "shabby" and "unbearable," especially as noise peaked when Weimer addressed survivors. The ceremony concluded with a minute of silence, the recitation of the "Buchenwald Oath" pledging to eradicate fascism, and the laying of 50 wreaths, symbolizing ongoing struggles for peace and memory.
Source: www.dw.com