Footnote 1

Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 18 Nov. 2021

This is a rather unplanned post, but I’d like to introduce the new ‘category’ of ‘Footnotes’ to more briefly point you to the weirder parts of the current situation.

Just a few minutes ago, I stumbled (a friend actually pointed me to) across this absurd item:

You see, the Memorial over at the Concentration Camp Buchenwald in Germany recently reopened its gates (no pun intended), and its website informed possible visitors about Covid-induced changes to the visiting regime in the following way:

‘The Buchenwald Memorial has reopened the permanent exhibition “Buchenwald. Exclusion and Violence 1937 to 1945” in the former gas chamber building as well as the exhibition “Soviet Special Camp No. 2 1945 to 1950” is open to its visitors again.’

Note, further, the following completely non-ironic additional statement:

‘In the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora memorials, the “2G rule” applies to visits to the exhibitions from 19 November.’

That means, in plain English, that the permanent exhibition on ‘Exclusion and Violence’ is open only to those who can produce proof of being either ‘vaccinated’ or ‘recovered’ from Covid-19.

Oh, the irony.