Germany's fractured memory of Buchenwald exposes unresolved Holocaust legacies

Eighty years after the liberation of Buchenwald, Germany still struggles with the legacy of the Holocaust. Writer and professor Ines Geipel's new book, Landscapes Without Witnesses: Buchenwald and the Fracture of Memory, examines why the country's democratic mainstream has failed to fully confront its violent past. Published by S. Fischer Verlag, the work challenges long-held myths about remembrance in a nation shaped by two dictatorships.

Geipel, who teaches at Berlin's Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, argues that Germany has never truly mourned its victims. Her book traces the origins of the concentration camp system and questions how post-1945 society constructed a flawed memory culture. She highlights how, even after reunification in 1990, public debates shifted from institutionalising remembrance—such as the 1996 Holocaust Memorial Day or the 2005 Berlin Memorial—to facing new threats.

Since the 1990s, efforts to preserve memory included state funding for memorial sites and official commemorations. Yet today, attacks on Germany's culture of remembrance no longer come only from the far right. Rising antisemitism after 7 October 2023, the growth of the AfD party, and digital distortions—from AI-generated fakes to virtual reality narratives—have reshaped the debate. Some now question whether the country's approach has failed, especially as right-wing voices demand an end to public reckoning.

Geipel's work also contrasts East Germany's pre-1990 perspectives, where critical views on National Socialism sometimes differed from those in the West. At the Leipzig Book Fair, she will discuss these themes with Ulrich Gutmair, a culture editor and author, in a session moderated by him. The conversation promises to explore how Germany's unified landscape still lacks the witnesses needed to fully acknowledge its past.

The book arrives at a time when Germany's relationship with its history faces fresh challenges. From political shifts to technological changes, the ways society engages with the Holocaust are evolving. Geipel's analysis suggests that without deeper reflection, the fractures in collective memory will persist.