German minister heckled at Nazi camp ceremony
SACHSENHAUSEN, Germany, April 23 (Reuter) - German Foreign
Minister Klaus Kinkel was heckled by people attending services
marking the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp on Sunday
when he referred to the camp's subsequent use by communists.
Kinkel continued with his speech at the Sachsenhausen camp,
just north of Berlin in the former East Germany, despite booing
and calls of ``Get out'' from the crowd of 8,000.
The crowd, including around 1,300 survivors of the Nazi camp
opened in 1936 and liberated in 1945, apparently objected to
Kinkel's linking of oppression from both fascists and communists
at Sachsenhausen at a ceremony supposed to centre on the victims
of Nazism.
An estimated 100,000 people died at the hands of brutal SS
guards before the Red Army reached Sachsenhausen in 1945.
Soviet secret police imprisoned around 50,000 political
prisoners at the camp after the war. Some 13,000 died.
``We remember the liberation on April 23, 1945. But
Sachsenhausen was not closed then. More prisoners came here. New
suffering took place. This we cannot forget,'' Kinkel said.
Most of Kinkel's address condemned the Nazis and their
campaign of death and terror against their opponents.
``We remain reminded: This country can never again send out
xenophobia, intolerance and antisemitism. Never again.''
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