Buchenwald Marks 81st Liberation Anniversary Amid Memory and Discord
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.











