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| Source FILE PHOTO: Picture shows he former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar, Germany, on January 27, 2017. © Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke |
The BBC reports:
"Some visitors to the Buchenwald Nazi
concentration camp - now a memorial - have gone for sledge rides over mass
graves and such abuses must stop, the site's managers have warned.
The site extends across a large wooded
area in eastern Germany, as Buchenwald had several sub-camps.
"Cases of winter sports near mass
graves, disturbing the peace of the dead, will be reported," the memorial
warns on its website.
More than 56,000 inmates died there.
The Nazis imprisoned nearly 280,000 men,
women and children at the site on Ettersberg hill near Weimar in 1937-1945.
They were mainly Jews, Sinti and Roma,
resistance activists, homosexuals and Soviet soldiers. They were beaten,
starved and tortured. Some were used for medical experiments.
The site has a huge cemetery on the
south slope of Ettersberg hill, with a belltower at the top - the area now
popular for winter excursions.
Rikola-Gunnar Lüttgenau, a historian at
Buchenwald, told the BBC that sports activities were already banned at the
site, yet "last weekend it was used heavily, many sledge tracks were found
on the graves, and the car park was full".
"Now because of the pandemic winter
sports facilities are closed in Thuringia [region], so they are using the
memorial," he added.
Disturbing the peace of the dead is an
offence punishable by a fine in Germany, he said, adding that the memorial has
now stepped up its security.
"Unfortunately more and more people
have been disrespecting the place, horse-riding or riding motorbikes in the
woods.""
Full article here
Living in Germany is, constantly a bizarre experience. I am speaking from my own experiences, btw. In school, you are virtually bored to death (in the Gymnasium, a kind of highschool bestowing a certified SAT test on you, you spend at least 3 years hearing about the Holocaust). Interestingly, when asked, Germany students have only very shallow ideas what the Holocaust is all about. I.e, they have no idea, what the German occupation meant for Polish people/Slavs, they have never heard about i.e the Haavara Agreement, they, for the most part, don't know what the Generalplan Ost was and that the Holocaust also entailed Gypsies&Slavs. Imho, it is a was of time, the way they do it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that, if there is anything, that could be learned from the Holocaust, it should not be an empty "Never again", an uninformed "fight the right" (or rather, conservatives) but the ability to discuss ideas openly, without trying to destroy your adversary. Wishful thinking.
This leads to Germany being a....bizarre country. On one hand, it is a big Antifa turf. Imagine Portland, but as a country. We have even started to use phrases like "Intersektionalität" or "die PoCs" (People of Colour). Serveral days ago, on Deutschlandfunk, I've heard about the "dire situation" of foreign-born citizens having to talk to "white Germans" (the horror!) when at i.e the major's office. So Germany HAS to up it's quota for "Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund" (people with a migrational background). As Berlin is kind of San Francisco, this is indeed a top priority. Also, judges should be allowed to wear headscarves.Teachers as well.
On the other, there is a right-wing lunatic fringe. I will give you an example: In Germany&Austria, we have student fraternities, who STILL are "völkisch". Now, this is a word that, gramatically, would have to be translated as "folklike". Which is wrong, as the translator of Mein Kampf understood perfectly well, thus translating it with the word "racial". This means, if you are not " deutscher Volkszugehörigkeit" (part of the German (racially understood!) nation), you can not join, no matter how much you feel German-only. In 2021. If s.th like this existed in Poland, I would be very much ashamed.
There is much antipolonism, especially from the left-side. They hate their own nation, and also, any other nation.Multiculturalism is great, but only, if it means Africa&The Near East.
Germans, in general, #notAll, still think, that they know everything better than anyone else, that, in fact, they are better. Culturally, of course, not racially (they want to be "bunt",meaning a coulorful mixture of whatever exists). The average German thinks i.e Polish people are backwards cavemen and Catholic Taliban. He/she also thinks, that Americans are dumb and have no culture. Last week, a German co-worker told me, that the US is "responsible for the 1. World War and for installing Hitler". Many Germans believe such conspiracy theories. Also, many Germans think, that Israel is kind of "nazi" towards the Palestinians.
It is crazy. Personally, I think most Germans don't care about history at all. They think, they are now an "open,friendly,multicultural" society so history is not important anymore. Also, the kids really want to ski.