Barbarism does not begin with the first shot; it begins where people are reduced to numbers in a statistic, where compassion gives way to bookkeeping and conscience to hollow obedience.

This line is truly the most important one in Hape Kerkeling's speech marking the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp. Because you can feel it. In any kind of bureaucracy.

Keynote speech for the commemorative ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald concentration campfrom Hape Kerkeling

Webseiten der Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora