Russian Embassy: Buchenwald Memorial Sought to Prevent Diplomats from Attending Commemoration

Photo: A wreath from the Russian Embassy was laid at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial on the anniversary of the liberation. IMAGO/ZUMA Press / jW screenshot

Junge Welt, April 15, 2026. Translated by Helmut-Harry Loewen.

On Monday evening, the Embassy of the Russian Federation reported on X that on Sunday, the Buchenwald Memorial had attempted to prevent Russian diplomats, including the ambassador, from participating in a German Communist Party (DKP) commemoration ceremony at the bell tower marking the liberation of the concentration camp:

“On April 12, 2026, diplomats from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Federal Republic of Germany, along with representatives from the Office for War Graves and Memorial Work, joined German activists in commemorating the prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp. … Buchenwald was one of the largest concentration camps in Nazi Germany, where hundreds of thousands of prisoners from the Soviet Union and European countries were held under cruel, inhumane conditions. … Hitler’s machinery of death was shattered by the victory over Nazism, to which the Red Army made a decisive contribution.

This year, representatives of the Buchenwald Memorial tried to obstruct the solemn commemoration ceremony. Citing a previously issued statement declaring that the participation of Russian diplomats in the memorial’s official events was undesirable, our delegation was asked to leave the premises. Embassy staff rejected these absurd demands and lodged a strong protest with the memorial’s administration. They pointed out that they were participating in the wreath-laying ceremony at the invitation of German … activists and that there are no restrictions at either the federal or state level on Russian diplomats visiting memorial sites. Ultimately, the solemn memorial ceremony was held according to the original plan.”