Young people organize commemorative event in Ohrdruf
Guided tours, a panel discussion, and workshops bring the past into conversation with the present for the 81st anniversary of the camp’s liberation
How can the memory of people persecuted by the Nazis be kept alive today and remain relevant for young people? A group of young volunteers – many from the local region – explored these questions in depth and designed and implemented their own commemorative event. Guided tours and a panel discussion were organized by the young people themselves, while the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future” (EVZ), the Weimar School of Painting and Drawing, the Buchenwald Memorial, and the Arolsen Archives held a range of workshops.
Soldiers from the U.S. 4th Armored Division liberated the Ohrdruf “SIII” sub-camp of Buchenwald concentration camp on April 4, 1945. The camp complex was only in operation between November 1944 and April 1945, but during this short period, around 20,000 people were imprisoned there and had to perform forced labor under inhumane conditions. More than 7,000 of them did not survive.
To mark the 81st anniversary of the camp’s liberation, a group of young people planned and implemented their own commemorative event. The idea had emerged twelve months before, when some of the young participants at last year’s commemoration expressed a desire to continue and expand their active involvement in regional remembrance beyond the 80th anniversary of the liberation.
Planned and implemented by young people
In November 2025, the 14- to 19-year-old volunteers began exploring the history of the Ohrdruf camp, remembrance culture, and contemporary forms of remembrance as part of the project “Dein HistoryLab für neue Perspektiven” (“Your HistoryLab for New Perspectives”).
Staff from the Arolsen Archives’ Education Team and the participating partner institutions helped the group of young people design, organize, and implement the project, but the young volunteers themselves decided which topics should be addressed and how they should be presented.
Their goals were to make the camp’s history more visible, introduce fresh perspectives, and raise awareness of this historic site, especially among young people. At the same time, they wanted to encourage others to get involved and take responsibility for remembrance.
Remembrance at a historical site
The event opened at the location of the former North Camp. Today, this site is part of the Bundeswehr’s military training area. After various commemorative speeches and the presentation of an art project by a school class from Arnstadt, the project group took the participants on a tour of two locations that were part of the camp complex. There was also time for personal reflection and remembrance during the tour
In the afternoon, the program continued at Ehrenstein Castle, where individuals involved in remembrance in the local region and beyond met for a panel discussion moderated by a project participant. The guiding question: “How do we commemorate here – both today and in the future?” The panelists talked about their own experience of remembrance work and discussed how remembrance of Nazi crimes and of victims of Nazi persecution can be kept alive and remain accessible in the future.
Different ways of engaging with history
Four workshops then gave participants the opportunity to explore history and remembrance in greater depth.
In the cyanotype workshop titled “Images of People,” they used an early photographic technique to engage with prisoner registration cards, transport lists, and photographs. Another workshop focused on how young people can get involved in remembrance, touching on the opportunities, experiences, and obstacles associated with this work.
A workshop organized by the Buchenwald Memorial explored the historical and social roots of antisemitism and showed participants how to recognize antisemitic patterns of thought. In a fourth workshop, participants used the interactive digital educational module “Suspicious: A Landscape of Crime” from Arolsen School to explore the grounds of the former Ohrdruf concentration camp, large parts of which are not accessible to the public today. “Suspicious” uses historical photos, videos, quotes, and personal stories to bring various aspects of the site to life.
Young perspectives on remembrance
The project provided valuable insights for the Arolsen Archives Education Team: Which forms of commemoration appeal to young people? What is important to them at a commemorative event? And how do they themselves want to commemorate the victims of Nazi persecution?
The collaboration showed that young people do not only want to learn about remembrance culture – they also want to play an active role in shaping it. The Arolsen Archives offer digital educational programs and run projects at historic sites to help them reflect on Nazi crimes and develop their own ways of engaging with history.
The commemorative event held to mark the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the Ohrdruf concentration camp was conceived, organized, and implemented by young people as part of the project “Dein HistoryLab für neue Perspektiven.” It was organized by the Arolsen Archives in cooperation with the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future” (EVZ), the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, and the Weimar School of Painting and Drawing.
The “Dein HistoryLab” project is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).
