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Conflict & Justice

Fighting for the future in Germany

In recent years, as the far-right party, AfD, has gained support in Germany, historians there have broadened their work educating about the Holocaust to include efforts against present-day racism and xenophobia.

The World
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The memorial to the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald is one of Germany’s darkest reminders of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime that executed it.

Marcus Teply/The World

The memorial to the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald is one of Germany’s darkest reminders of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime that executed it.

The historians who oversee the site and other memorials to victims and survivors are determined to use them to make sure their history remains in the past.

But in recent years, as the far-right party, AfD, has gained support in Germany, historians have broadened their work educating about the Holocaust to include efforts against present-day racism and xenophobia.

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Incinerators were custom-engineered to burn the corpses of the 56,000 victims of the Buchenwald concentration camp by a local company in the eastern German state of Thüringen. Memorials are turning their emphasis from remembering victims to examining the perpetrators in an effort to combat disinformation and whitewashing of the Nazi era.Marcus Teply/The World
Cultural historian Uwe Ramlow leads a group of visitors to the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial. He said that nowadays, his tours are not just about confronting the terrible history, but the “immense increase” in racism, xenophobia and antisemitism in Germany.Marcus Teply/The World
A group touring the grounds of the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial. Marcus Teply/The World
The flag of Weltoffenes Thüringen, a coalition of organizations working to support democracy and pluralism in the eastern German state of Thüringen, flies above the memorial to the Buchenwald concentration camp.Marcus Teply/The World
A public art installation in the east German city of Weimar brings portraits of Buchenwald survivors out of the memorial and into the public consciousness. It is one of many recent efforts by concentration camp memorials to remind the public of Nazi crimes to combat far-right disinformation and whitewashing of the Nazi era.Marcus Teply/The World
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