06-04-2025
Germany's Weimar marks 80th anniversary of Buchenwald camp liberation
A memorial service is to be held on Sunday to commemorate the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp near the central German city of Weimar 80 years ago.
The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation expects some 10 survivors to attend the service at the Weimarhalle. Relatives and descendants have also been invited. Former German president Christian Wulff is expected to give a speech.
In the afternoon, a wreath-laying ceremony is planned at the former roll call square of the camp.
According to the memorial sites, Naftali Fürst, the president of the International Committee of Buchenwald-Dora and Commandos, is also set to speak at the memorial.
Fürst, 92, survived the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps as a child.
In the run-up to the memorial service, a dispute came to light between the memorial site and the Israeli embassy over a planned speech by a philosopher who is viewed critically by the embassy.
Starting in the summer of 1937, the Nazis deported more than 280,000 people to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar and its 139 subcamps. Some 56,000 people were murdered or died of hunger, disease, forced labour or medical experiments.
