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Erfurt (dpa) - For this year's anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, there will be a few face-to-face events on a small scale despite the corona pandemic.
Among other things, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is expected to attend a memorial ceremony on April 11 at the German National Theater in Weimar, said Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff (left), chairman of the foundation board of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, on Wednesday in Erfurt.
In addition, two former prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp are said to speak there.
Her speeches would be translated into six languages and, like the memorial act, broadcast on the Internet as a whole.
State Parliament President Birgit Keller said it was an important sign that at least part of the commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the liberation was taking place as face-to-face events.
This shows that in Germany, even under the difficult conditions of a pandemic, people will not allow them to be forgotten.
This is particularly important because the National Socialist crimes are relativized during the protests against the corona restrictions.
"We stand up against any trivialization or relativization of these inhuman crimes," said Keller.
According to the director of the memorial foundation, Jens-Christian Wagner, in addition to the memorial ceremony in the German National Theater, wreaths will also be laid on the camp grounds of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora in small groups.
In addition, there will be a predominantly digital accompanying program with films, readings, discussions, exhibitions and art events around this year's anniversary of the liberation.
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The foundation had actually planned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald on April 11, 2020 with a diverse program.
At the time, this had to be canceled at short notice due to the corona pandemic.
Between 1937 and 1945, the National Socialists held more than a quarter of a million people prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Around 56,000 of them died while in custody from the catastrophic conditions in the camp or were killed by the SS.
US troops had reached the camp on April 11, 1945.
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Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation