Looking back. Looking ahead. 2020-2025

182   SPEECHES | POLITICS AND SOCIETY Politics and Society ©Flossenbürg Memorial / T. Dashuber Shortly before the end of the SecondWorldWar, the Flos- senbürg concentration camp was liberated. Yet only about 1,500 people remained; most of the victims had already been driven on death marches across Bavaria. The end of the war finally brought an end to the victims’ suffering. Our thoughts first go to those who were maltreated – either here in Flossenbürg or in one of its nearly 80 subcamps.   I would like to emphasise that we also remember the Russian victims, who were subjected to the same cruelty and murder as all others. The conditions in Flossenbürg itself were particu- larly brutal. The camp had been established to extract build- ing material from the vast granite deposits. The SS company Deutsche Stein- und Erdwerke subjected the prisoners to ruthless exploitation to sate its hunger for granite. The first inmates were victims of a campaign targeting so- called “career criminals” and “asocial types”. By the end of 1938, the first political prisoners had arrived. After the outbreak of war, Flossenbürg became a camp for people from all occupied countries in Europe. The first Jewish prisoner was registered in 1940. Life in the camp was harsh beyond measure: Many starved or froze to death – or were simply murdered at random. The   prisoners were forced to work to exhaustion, often humiliated and beaten to death. The death rate was so high that a   crematorium was soon built. I was born in November 1943 in Hersbruck. One of the sub- camps is located there – but neither my parents nor my school- teachers had ever mentioned it. The suffering of the victims and the crimes of the perpetrators were silenced for decades. Thankfully, those days are over. Flossenbürg only began to develop into a memorial site in the 1990s, when it became a place of remembrance and learning. Dr Günther Beckstein Minister-President of the Free State of Bavaria 77th anniversary of the liberation of Flossenbürg  24 April 2022 Now, 77 years after its liberation, we find ourselves at a turning point: There are hardly any contemporary witnesses left to recount the horrors they endured. There is a real danger that the concentration camps, the mur- der of millions of Jews, the extermination of Sinti and Roma, and the suffering of all other prisoners could be reduced to a mere chapter in history. That is why it is so important that Flossenbürg continues to grow as a centre of learning and edu- cation. I also support the Central Council of Jews’ call for visits to concentration camp memorials to be included in school curricula, though such programmes require careful planning and execution. On a more positive note, Jewish life has returned to Germany. The arrival of Russian Jews has revitalised Jewish communities, and the fact that many communities have now welcomed Ukrainian refugees is a sign of hope. After the past two years, when liberation commemorations could not be held due to COVID restrictions, this year’s event is once again taking place against the backdrop of significant events. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has once more altered the course of German history – the era of the post-ColdWar peace dividend is over. The harrowing images of destruction in Ukrainian cities re- mind me of war-torn Nuremberg. Reports of atrocities and war crimes send shivers down my spine. Still, we must be careful not to compare Putin’s Russia to Hitler’s Germany: The quasi-industrialised machinery of extermination in Nazi concentration camps was historically unique and must not be relativised – even in seemingly understandable comparisons.