Leaving Buchenwald, back to Buchenwald

The foundational core of Jorge Semprún’s literary, political and intellectual identity lies in the events he lived through between 1936 and 1945. In less than ten years, while still very young, Semprún acquired the status of exile, resistance fighter, deportee, and survivor. All of these experiences and identities laid the foundations for his later literary works and shaped his thinking and political activity.

But the most decisive was undoubtedly his experience as a prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he encountered the worst version of humanity–absolute evil–and witnessed acts that would torment him “throughout the long years of memory”. But alongside the suffering, he also discovered solidarity and fellowship. Buchenwald also reaffirmed his Europeanism and his intellectual and political commitment.

In April 2010, Semprún returned there on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.

Transcripción del discurso de Jorge Semprún en Buchenwald. ​