Visitors to the Buchenwald memorial complex were criticized for winter entertainment on its territory, in particular, for sleigh rides on mass graves. Der Spiegel writes about this.
The leaders of the memorial called this behavior disrespectful and asked the guests to refrain from spending their leisure time in Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora. Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Memorials Foundation, complained that in winter the parking lot at the former concentration camp was full of cars: people come here for a walk, and some even play sports with music or walk the dogs.
“Sports events are a violation of visiting rules and disturb the peace of the dead,” Wagner emphasized. He also warned that the memorial’s security service will now more closely patrol the area and stop violations.
The Buchenwald Concentration Camp was built in 1937 and was originally used for political prisoners. During the entire existence of Buchenwald (from 1937 to 1945), more than 250,000 people passed through it, at least 56,000 of whom died. Among the prisoners were Soviet prisoners of war, Jews, Poles, homosexual men, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other minorities hostile to Nazism.