Why is the Topf & Sons – Builders of the Auschwitz Ovens – Place of Remembrance important to you?
In a word: Lest we forget!
There are still many, many people who would like to forget,
who’d like to draw a line under the whole thing,
without even knowing what exactly.
Who in Germany doesn’t know about Auschwitz;
who doesn’t know about Topf & Sons?
Lots of people don’t,
and that’s why I hope it will exist for a long, long, long time to come.
Along with its organization, with its circle of patrons.
So no one can say: I didn’t know.
The least I can do is support that cause.
Today I think back to the time
when I looked at those damn kids, those squatters on the devastated company grounds,
and what they managed to do with their commemorative posters.
I always had a lot of respect for that.
I remember having a conversation with the mayor at the time,
and he wasn’t very happy about the whole thing.
But I didn’t let that affect me.
I always kept to my own path.