Erfurt (dpa) – After supporting the Left in the prime ministerial election in Thuringia, state leader Christian Schaft gave Prime Minister Mario Voigt (CDU) a new souvenir: a picture of the so-called Oath of Buchenwald. According to a party spokesman, Schaft said this was intended for Voigt's office. “As a reminder that, despite all differences in content, the democratic factions have a shared responsibility against the normalization of fascism.”
Voigt was elected Prime Minister in the state parliament in the first round of voting at the age of 51, although his blackberry coalition with the SPD and Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance only has 44 seats. The Left parliamentary group had previously announced that it would provide votes so that right-wing extremist Björn Höcke's AfD would not be involved.
The “Oath of Buchenwald” was a solemn vow after the liberation of the National Socialist concentration camp near Weimar in Thuringia in 1945. The wording: “We will only give up the fight when the last guilty person has been convicted by the court of all nations.” The final one Smashing Nazism is our slogan. Building a new world of peace and freedom is our ideal.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:241212-930-315796/1
