(JTA) — The chairman of an association supporting a German sausage museum said it will not build a new facility on the site of a former Nazi slave labor camp.
The German Bratwurst Museum had received permission on Thursday night from the Muhlhausen City Council to build a new museum, as well as a theater and a hotel, in an area that used to belong to the “Martha II” camp – an extension of Buchenwald where hundreds of women, most of them Jewish, worked as forced laborers.
The sub-camp was closed in March 1945, when the Nazis transferred most inmates to the Bergen Belsen camp, where many died of starvation or illness.
The former subcamp is located on a patch of land that a private investor bought from the government in 2008.
The project was not made public until hours before the rezoning meeting, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
The approval sparked protests from the Jewish community and several liberal lawmakers in Thuringia, the state where Muhlhausen is located.
The Friends of the Thuringian Sausage association said in a statement posted on its website Friday: “Based on the facts that have come to light, we will investigate the historical background in the coming days, and, involving everyone responsible and taking into account public opinion, will carry out a completely new assessment.”
Association Chairman Uwe Keith, told the German tabloid Bild later on Friday that: “We will definitely not build there.”
