Locals ski across graves at Buchenwald concentration camp
Memorial staff have increased security and called for locals to show respect and refrain from winter sports at the site of the camp.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFA visitor stands in front of a watchtower behind a fence on the grounds of the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar(photo credit: REUTERS)
Skiers and tobogganers have been seen sledding and skiing at the memorial on the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp, some leaving tracks across graves, German news site Der Spiegel reported Thursday.Memorial staff have increased security and called for locals to show respect and refrain from winter sports at the site of the camp, according to the German site RTL."Some of the tracks ended at the graves," Jens-Christian Wagner, the director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials foundation told Der Spiegel.Wagner also said that the site's parking lot has been completely full, not with cars of visitors to the memorial but with the cars of winter athletes. While he expressed that it is understandable that the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing regulations have made many desperate for outdoor activities, Wagner asked that visitors in the area refrain from disturbing the peace and disrespecting the area, according to Der Spiegel.The memorial fund asked on Twitter that locals "show respect for the victims."
#Rodeln und Skilaufen machen Spaß. Und eine schöne Winterlandschaft wie derzeit in #Buchenwald lockt ins Freie. Trotzdem möchten wir bitten, Respekt vor den Opfern zu zeigen und insbesondere nicht in der Nähe oder sogar auf den Gräbern am Glockenturm zu rodeln oder Ski zu laufen. pic.twitter.com/WCfyzaOXYI
— Stift. Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora (@Buchenwald_Dora) January 12, 2021
Some 56,000 people were murdered at Buchenwald and its satellite installation Dora before it was freed by US soldiers in April 1945.
