Politics / Holocaust Obama Visits Buchenwald Great-uncle helped free Buchenwald By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff Posted Jun 5, 2009 10:07 AM CDT Copied President Obama, German chancellor Angela Merkel, and Buchenwald survivors Elie Wiesel, right, and Bertrand Herz, left, walk away from the gate building at the Buchenwald concentration camp today. (AP Photo/Oliver Multhaup) President Obama toured the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald today, the BBC reports. “These sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time,” said Obama, accompanied on his visit by German chancellor Angela Merkel and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Obama noted that his great-uncle, part of the infantry division that liberated the camp, "had a very difficult time re-adjusting to civilian life" afterward. (More Holocaust stories.) Report an error