On 9 November 2026, the Buchenwald Memorial opened the new outdoor exhibition “Pogrom. Buchenwald in November 1938”. According to the foundation, it focuses on biographical testimonies from men who were interned in Buchenwald after the November Kristallnacht 1938 riots; the exhibition says it uses contemporary first-hand accounts to make more immediate sources visible. The opening was deliberately held on the anniversary of the pogroms, when Germany traditionally remembers the violence against Jewish people in 1938. ([mdr.de](https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/deutschland/panorama/erinnerungskultur-nationalsozialismus-holocaus-ddr-veraendern,gedenken-284.html))
The Director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora, Jens-Christian Wagner, described in an interview with MDR AKTUELL, how remembrance should be approached today: the key, he said, is evidence-based, investigative and exploratory learning rather than ritualised, pathos-laden events. Wagner explicitly warned against what he called “Holocaust kitsch” and argued that remembrance should make room not only for mourning, but also for asking who the perpetrators were and what social mechanisms made persecution possible. MDR recorded the interview on 9 November 2026. ([mdr.de](https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/deutschland/panorama/erinnerungskultur-nationalsozialismus-holocaus-ddr-veraendern,gedenken-284.html))
The exhibition’s approach forms part of a wider debate about remembrance, which has gained renewed intensity in Germany in recent years. Specialist institutions such as the Memorials Foundation confirm that exhibitions and educational programmes can place greater emphasis on biographies and local sources in order to reach younger generations. The foundation also stresses the responsibility to locate historical events precisely and not to romanticise them through arbitrary generalisations. ([stiftung-gedenkstaetten.de](https://www.stiftung-gedenkstaetten.de/themen/veranstaltungen/Erinnerung-an-die-Opfer-der-Novemberpogrome-1938-26?utm_source=openai))
The basic historical facts are undisputed: during the November pogrom of 9–10 November 1938, synagogues and Jewish institutions were destroyed; around 30,000 Jewish men were subsequently sent to concentration camps, including Buchenwald. Institutions such as Yad Vashem and German research centres document these events and serve as reference points for public education. ([wwv.yadvashem.org](https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/novemberpogromnacht/index.asp?utm_source=openai))
Implications and interests: The Buchenwald exhibition aims to strengthen academic interpretation and support educational work in and beyond schools. It is also likely to prompt further discussion about the form and tone of remembrance — in particular, how it can remain effective and relevant to the present while also being historically precise. All quoted statements and exhibition details are based on information from the memorial and MDR’s reporting of 9 November 2026.
Editor: Celestina Fuentes (Article created with AI assistance).