Looking back. Looking ahead. 2020-2025

168   SPEECHES | POLITICS AND SOCIETY Politics and Society ©Flossenbürg Memorial / T. Dashuber Today’s act of remembrance marks the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Flossenbürg. As we commemorate the liberation of the concentration camp, we are particularly mindful of the unimaginable suffering that occurred both here and through- out Europe under National Socialism over the course of many years. It is both our responsibility and obligation to remember these events and draw lessons from them – not only for past generations, but especially for the present and for those yet to come. Today, we remember 23 April 1945, the day the Flossenbürg concentration camp was liberated. American soldiers freed 1,500 prisoners, rescuing people who were so weakened by their ordeal that they barely even survived the liberation.   And yet most who had been imprisoned here never lived to see that day. Many had already been driven on death marches across Bavaria or had long since perished. Here in Flossenbürg, prisoners were forced to perform hard labour under the harshest conditions. Many people starved, froze to death or were murdered arbitrarily. Altogether, nearly 100,000 people endured the unimaginable in Flossenbürg and its subcamps. 30,000 did not survive. Flossenbürg stood at the heart of a network of camps stretching fromWürzburg to Prague. It formed part of a machinery of annihilation unlike anything the world had seen before. Jews, Sinti and Roma, resistant Christians, and all others per- secuted for racist or political reasons – today, we honour every victim of this camp and its subcamps, alongside the millions of people who fell victim to an ideology of hatred within a totalitarian fascist regime. 79 years have passed since the darkest chapter of German history. And as the years pass, it becomes increasingly difficult to grasp the sheer scale of what happened. An initial memorial site was created in 1947, but it was only in the mid-1990s – after decades of repression and forgetting – Albert Füracker, MdL Bavarian State Minister of Finance and Homeland Affairs 79th anniversary of the liberation of Flossenbürg  21 April 2024 that Flossenbürg began to engage in the kind of in-depth re- search and remembrance work that does justice to the victims. The place itself speaks powerfully, and its impact is deepened through a range of scholarly investigations, publications, per- manent and special exhibitions, and educational programmes – and especially thanks to countless individuals telling their deeply personal life stories. In this way, visitors of all ages are introduced to the history of the concentration camp, its victims and the historical context in which these events unfolded. My heartfelt gratitude goes to Prof. Jörg Skriebeleit, who has directed the Flossenbürg Memorial for many years, and to his dedicated staff. Their exceptional expertise and deep com- mitment continue to enrich our historical understanding and society as a whole. This is something I have repeatedly seen for myself over the years. Your work is as important as it is demanding. Each of you   contributes to something of great significance – and the   material you work with every day must be deeply challenging. For this special service to our homeland and all of us, you have earned the highest respect and recognition. 79 years have passed since the end of the SecondWorldWar and the fall of the Nazi regime, and most contemporary wit- nesses are no longer with us. For nearly eight decades, people recounted what they had seen with their own eyes, what they had endured in their own bodies, and what had happened to their families, friends and neighbours. Their testimonies were deeply moving and carried enormous power. Now, as the era of contemporary witnesses draws to an end, what does that mean for us? Are the atrocities of Flossenbürg and the crimes of National Socialism merely remnants of a   distant past? Can the past simply be filed away? These   are some of the questions you and I, Prof. Skriebeleit, have   discussed on a number of occasions. There can only be one   answer:What happened right here, in our homeland, during