Germany Marks Concentration Camp Liberation Day

Hundreds of people gathered April 11 at the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald to mark the 65th anniversary of the camps liberation.

Former prisoners, American veterans, German and EU politicians laid flowers and wreaths in honor of those who suffered and died at this and other camps.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert called Buchenwald “an eternal reminder of the necessity to always protect freedom, democracy, tolerance and humanness”. Unfortunately, he said, the call of Buchenwald’s prisoners to build a world without wars hasn’t been heard.

Chairman of International Buchenwald Committee Bernhard Gerz called young people to remember the crimes of Nazism and not to allow its revival. Since 1937 to 1945, over 250 thousand prisoners from 36 states passed through Buchenwald.

According to historians’ estimates, 56 thousands of them were killed or died of hunger, back-breaking labor or inhumane medical experiments. The camp was liberated on April 11, 1945.