Footnote 5

Guess who didn't like any attention?--Buchenwald Concentration Camp

A couple of days ago I brought to your attention that the permanent exhibition on ‘Exclusion and Violence’ at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial is open only to those who can produce proof of being either ‘vaccinated’ or ‘recovered’ from Covid-19.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who noticed it. The above picture is from German state braodcaster Deutschlandfunk on this, but here’s the official reaction of the Buchenwald Memorial, written by Professor Dr. Jens-Christian Wagner, Director of the Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora (my emphases):

‘Intolerable Relativisation of Nazi Crimes

For several days now, right-wing and conspiracy ideological bloggers have been agitating in the so-called “alternative” media against the Buchenwald Memorial and its staff.

The reason for this is that since 19 November 2021, access to the exhibitions has been restricted according to the 2G rule [i.e., excluding ‘the unvaccinated’]. This means that the memorial is following official guidelines that apply to all museums and exhibitions in Thuringia, which is currently particularly dramatically affected by the Corona pandemic.

Since the inflammatory articles have been circulating on the internet, employees of the Buchenwald memorial have received several hate mails. In addition, the colleagues have to put up with drastic insults by telephone. The aggression we are confronted with is evidence of a frightening brutalisation. The most disgusting thing, however, is that the Corona protection measures are being equated with Nazi crimes and that unvaccinated people are being called “new Jews” and memorial workers are being called Nazis, fascists and new Dr. Mengeles.

Those who use such insults and presume to equate themselves with persecuted Jews under National Socialism are instrumentalising and ridiculing the victims of the crimes of National Socialism. To seriously equate the restriction of access to the exhibition for the voluntarily unvaccinated with the Nazis’ racially and anti-Semitically motivated homicidal policy is absurd. The unvaccinated are not threatened in any way and do not have to fear for their lives (except through a Corona infection). They are not persecuted, deported or murdered. The only restriction is that they cannot (unless they are under 18) temporarily go to an exhibition for reasons of protection against infection. The restrictions are also based on parliamentary resolutions in the Landtag and the Bundestag and are thus democratically legitimised. National Socialism, on the other hand, was a brutal, racist dictatorship.

Such equations are not only distasteful, but they trivialise National Socialism and play into the hands of historical revisionism and anti-Semitic agitation. They are an attack on our critical and reflexive culture of remembrance and must be resolutely rejected—not only from the memorial sites, but hopefully also from democratic civil society.

Incidentally, the access restriction only applies to the exhibitions and to our Visitor:inside Info [area]. All other areas of the Buchenwald Memorial, including the grounds of the former camp, the memorial at the bell tower and the graves, are accessible without restrictions. Let us hope that—through adherence to the Corona protection measures as well as increased vaccinations—the pandemic emergency can be quickly overcome and the restrictions on access to the exhibitions lifted again very quickly. Visitors are very welcome!’