Germany marks 80th anniversary of Buchenwald camp liberation

Bangkok Post Group

Politicians, survivors, and relatives gathered to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp on Sunday (April 6). Naftali Fuerst, President of the International Buchenwald-Dora Committee and Commandos (IKBD), shared his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust. - REUTERS

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00:00We are celebrating this 80th anniversary in politically difficult times.

00:12Much of what seemed safe and certain in past decades has changed in recent years and months.

00:18And it is changing at a rapid pace every week.

00:21Liberal democracies and the idea of indivisible human rights and a humane society are under

00:27pressure worldwide.

00:29Not least in the USA, which until a few months ago was still a guardian of freedom in Europe.

00:40At the age of 12, I lay alone, dying in Buchenwald after the death march.

00:45Today at the age of 92, I represent 270,000 prisoners of Buchenwald, the dead and the

00:51living.

00:53After 80 years, I carry in my soul the awareness of the murder of 56,000 prisoners and their

00:59cruel deaths by forced labor, starvation, hanging on gallows with their hands tied behind

01:05their backs, by being impaled on hooks in the crematorium's torture cellar or by a shot

01:11in the neck in the so-called doctor's room.

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