The students had been taken on a school trip to Buchenwald concentration camp, which was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany’s 1937 borders.
The educational trip was intended to teach the young students about the horrors that took place under the Nazi regime. However, on the bus back home, three 14-year-old boys allegedly started playing antisemitic songs - and also sang along.
According to various German media, state culture minister Alexander Lorz praised the school for coming forward and reporting the pupils to the authorities. “Hateful singing and abuse are not trivial offences. It has to be made clear to young people that we won’t put up with something like this in our country,” he said.
Police are investigating a possible hate crime but could not provide further details about the investigation.
Prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp, among others, included communists, Jews, Poles, mentally ill and physically disabled people, homosexuals and political prisoners. Conditions were poor and food often insufficient. 56,545 people died inside the camp. It gained notoriety when it was liberated by the United States Army in April 1945.
