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My response to Buchenwald was a bit different than I anticipated due to an
unexpected discussion over coffee with our tour guide, Barbara. I had
planned to walk through the museum and see how things have changed; perhaps
to walk down the hill a bit through the rubble of the barracks to the new
camp--a development I had not previously been aware of. Instead, I was
fortunate enough to speak for almost an hour to this 34-year-old woman who
has dedicated her life to the education of people about the Holocaust and
the crimes committed on this site.
Much like the rest of Berlin, Holocaust memory in Buchenwald has been
infiltrated by current struggles over memory and politics. This was the
main focus of our discussion--particularly what her aims are working there
and what she hopes people will take from the camp, as well as the current
debate over whose memory should be represented and how between the victims
of the Nazi regime and the victims of East German de-Nazification.
All in all, my expectations were, in a word, postponed. I didn't get the
chance to reflect as I had planned or reinfuse the history of the Holocaust
with the memories of individuals. However, I think the experience I did
have there has proved more important to me and made me rethink what a
concentration camp should be as a memorial or what it should hope to
inspire.
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