Memorial plaque for Buchenwald concentration camp in Bad Wilhelmshöhe revealed: Memory of dark chapter

Memorial plaque for Buchenwald concentration camp in Bad Wilhelmshöhe revealed: Memory of dark chapter

new plaque is reminiscent of darkness in Kassel

On Thursday, a new plaque was unveiled on the panorama path in Bad Wilhelmshöhe, which is reminiscent of the horrors of the SS rule. Here, in a place that is considered one of the most beautiful in Kassel, prisoners of an outer camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp had to do forced labor. The memory of the dark chapters of the past should be kept so alive.

under the direction of Mayor Sven Schoeller, historians, local representatives and citizens gathered to commemorate the victims together. The plaque was built on the initiative of the local advisory board and is intended to commemorate the shadows that lie above this property. State operations manager Michael Gerst emphasized the importance of staying aware of the story and not forgetting what happened in this place.

The Buchenwald concentration camp maintained a total of more than 140 outer camps, three of which existed in Kassel between July 1943 and March 1945. The prisoners from different countries were used for forced labor in the city's factories, which were part of the armaments industry of the Third Reich. Historians estimate that around 30,000 foreign workers were deployed in Kassel.

A Dutch prisoner, Alfred Groeneveld, who was active in the resistance, reported in his book about the cruel states in the Kassel outskirts. Despite the comparatively tolerable conditions under the SS rule, it became clear that fear and suffering were omnipresent. The unveiling of the plaque and the pupils of the Herderschule present illustrate the efforts to keep the memory of the victims awake and to promote the formation of consciousness over the darkest chapters in history.

For Mayor Schoeller, it is of the utmost importance that history will not forget, especially in view of an increasing fault of history and trivialization of past events. The new plaque should not only remind you of the past, but also serve as a reminder for the future so that such atrocities never repeat.

- Nag