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German State Planning to Erect New Memorial at Buchenwald Camp

August 11, 1992
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A new memorial will be erected at the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp to commemorate the 10,000 Jews who perished at the infamous camp.

Plans for the new memorial were announced by the state government of Thuringia, which was formerly part of East Germany. The new marker will replace one erected by the Communist regime there that barely mentions Jews died at the camp.

The existing plaque focuses on the persecution of Communists and Soviets under the Nazis.

Designs for the new memorial will be invited in a competition to be launched Oct. I by Thuringia, following discussions held last month involving representatives of the state government, Israel and the Jewish community of Germany.

Funding for the marker will come from Thuringia as well as from private donations, the state government said.

The new memorial will be erected on the remains of barracks No. 21, where many of the Jews were held.

The announcement came amid ongoing public debate on redesigning and possibly rebuilding memorials left by the rulers of the former German Democratic Republic.

One of them is at the site of Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin, likely to become a site for frequent state visits when the German government moves its operations from Bonn to Berlin, the old German capital.

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