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There is a lot of talk of Europe going about. Two writers from Weimar have now approached the subject from an unusual perspective – in conversations with survivors of Buchenwald concentration camp. Now, in Paris they discussed the long pathway from Buchenwald to Europe. By Rudolf Balmer

Is Europe the antithesis to the barbarism of the concentration camps? This was the question with which Fritz von Klinggräff and Roland Hirte began their conversation with survivors of Buchenwald. Von Klinggräff is a journalist and was the speaker for the City of Weimar; Hirte is an historian and works at the Buchenwald memorial. The two writers, in cooperation with Hannah Röttele, have now published the results of their encounters with the former inmates in a book and presented it at the Goethe-Institut Paris. The title of the volume is Von Buchenwald (,) nach Europa.

Why is a comma positioned like a stumbling block in this title? Perhaps because the punctuation mark can indicate, like a signalled pause for breath, that there is no straight line leading from the concentration camp to the European community of peace, explains Klinggräff during the reading in Paris. And, in the chronological dimension, “nach Europa” (can be translated “to Europe” or “after Europe”) also hints that what Europe once was also collapsed along with the Third Reich.

Hirte tells how they came up with the question in the first place. “We based it on a sentence by someone else who had been deported to Buchenwald. The writer Jorge Semprún once said ‘It may seem paradoxical at first glance, but in a way, something like a European spirit first arose in the Nazi camps.’ We then brought that up with our ten discussion partners in France.” The consequences were not simply opinions about Europe, but insights into biographies with memories of tragedies and also of anecdotes as illustrated in the chapter that was read aloud Old Men at Sixteen. This piece of contemporary history is supplemented in the book by a number of texts and photos, some of which are being published for the first time.

Semprún passed away, and last year former Minister Pierre Sudreau died as well. But, eight of the interviewees are still alive and five of them even attended this special evening at the Goethe-Institut in person: Bertrand Herz, Walter Spitzer, Elie Buzyn, Aron Bulwa and Floréal Barrier. All of them portray their very personal versions and offer their commentary on the long pathway from Buchenwald to Europe.

Don’t whitewash the situation

“They forced us not only to think about the past, but also about the future,” said Herz in praise of the project. While Barrier speaks fervently of Europe as an obligation to keep solidarity: “We are hoarding our technologies rather than giving them to those who need them most – for example solar energy to Africa.” For him, “the Europe that we began to build in Buchenwald is not the Europe of Brussels.” For the French chairman of the inmate council of Buchenwald concentration camp, the concerted resistance of the inmates of a variety of nationalities remains exemplary. He remembers that this was not merely a daily fight for survival, but also a kind of political and cultural resistance in songs or paintings.

The artist Walter Spitzer makes no bones about his disappointment. “What we wanted was a Europe with no wars. What happened in ex-Yugoslavia in the 20th century is therefore shameful. The Europe that we wanted has long packed its bags and gone. The Europe being arranged now leaves me very sceptical.” However, Buzyn warns against whitewashing the situation in hindsight. Ultimately only a minority of inmates in the concentration camp near Weimar practiced political resistance. And in the Europe occupied by Hitler, the vast majority of people incriminated themselves as collaborators or due to their indifference.

Buzyn tells how he left this continent at the age of 17 because in every passerby he saw a Nazi accomplice through indifference. He would like to emphasize something tonight for the mainly far younger audience: “There is a Europe for something, but also against something. Today, Europe is threatened by Islamo-Fascist extremists, who will only yield if the Europeans are united against them.”

The guilt of looking the other way: author Hirte also considers it a central aspect. “Those who looked away when someone was led off to deportation committed a crime.” This is just as significant today as the necessities of remembrance or of outrage.

The book: Von Buchenwald (,) nach Europe by Ronald Hirte, Fritz von Klinggräff, Hannah Röttele. With essays by Franziska Augstein, Claudia Grehn, Volkshard Knigge, François Le Lionnais, Lutz Niethammer, Jorge Semprún and Darja Stocker. Published by Weimarer Verlagsgesellschaft, 310 pages.