Berlin, Germany - Minister Apologizes for Buchenwald Speech

Berlin, Germany - A German junior minister has apologized for a speech he gave at a concert commemorating Buchenwald concentration camp in which he was accused of passing over the suffering of its victims.

Hermann Schaefer, deputy minister of state for cultural affairs, said he had made the wrong speech at the opening of an arts festival in the eastern city of Weimar and that he did not mean to overlook the camp's victims. "I would do it differently today, I'll admit that quite openly," he said. "I didn't know there were concentration camp survivors sitting in the front row."
"I'm sorry and I apologize for it. I could have included them more strongly in the speech and probably should have."

Schaefer spoke ahead of the festival's opening concert "remembering Buchenwald" but had to break off because of loud protests from the crowd.
His speech concentrated on the flight and expulsion of Germans from eastern territories in World War Two and did not address Buchenwald's victims.

Around 11,000 Jews died n the camp, one of the biggest on German soil.