World
80 Years After Dachau Concentration Camp Liberation, Witnesses Remember
Lockered Gahs, known unofficially as Bud, was a 20-year-old soldier in the U.S. Army who had been fighting for a year when he and his unit first entered the Dachau concentration camp just outside Munich in 1945.
His unit — the 42nd Infantry Division — had seen harrowing combat since it began fighting in France. But, he said, liberating the concentration camp was altogether different.
“When we opened the gates to Dachau, it was only then have we truly understood what we had been fighting for,” Mr. Gahs, 100 years old, told a crowd that included survivors, families and dignitaries in Dachau on Sunday.
When he and his unit went through the gates, Mr. Gahs encountered prisoners so malnourished, sick and maltreated that they seemed scarcely alive. On the way there, soldiers had found piles of bodies inside train wagons.
On Sunday, Jean Lafaurie, 101, who survived the camp after he was arrested in his village in France, spoke of the sadistic treatment the prisoners had been forced to endure.
Other survivors’ minds were on the present. Mario Candotto, 98, of Italy, who survived the camp but lost four of his brothers and both parents, said: “I hear talk about weapons and nationalism, and the thought occurs to me: Have people learned nothing?”
The 80th anniversary of the end of the Nazi era — and with it anniversaries of the liberations of concentration camps — comes at a pivotal time for Germans.
The last of the survivors, liberators and perpetrators are dying of old age, and with them any living memories of the Holocaust. At the same time, the far right is becoming established. While the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, whose leaders have repeatedly downplayed the Holocaust, was once a fringe party, it is currently the most popular party in Germany, according to some polls.
“We are truly living in a period of upheaval; I feel this at the memorial sites, and at Dachau in particular,” Gabriele Hammermann, the director of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, told The New York Times. “It acts as a seismograph.”
The anniversary also comes after a pronounced change in the tone of the relationship between Germany and the United States. While Washington was once instrumental in promoting a culture of accountability and remembrance, President Trump’s administration has made its preference for the AfD very clear.
In January, Vice President JD Vance shocked German leaders when he told a crowd in Munich that they should stop shunning the AfD. Last week, after the AfD was officially labeled an extremist party by Germany’s domestic intelligence unit, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a social media post, called the decision by Germany’s intelligence unit “tyranny in disguise,” adding that Germany’s border policies were instead the country’s “extremist” problem.
Antisemitic hate crimes have also increased in Germany. In a country that has long espoused the motto “never again,” many worry that liberal democracy is under threat. In a poll carried out last year, 69 percent of respondents said they thought populism was a threat to democracy.
Even the people who run the concentration camp memorial sites have noted a disquieting uptick in thefts and petty crimes committed on their grounds. In 2019, Nikolai Nerling, a far-right video blogger and provocateur, was convicted of incitement for videos in which he interviewed Dachau visitors and relativized the crimes of the Nazis. Last year thieves stole exhibit items from the camp’s gas chamber.
Established just weeks after Hitler came to power in 1933, the Dachau camp initially held political opponents. It was a model for future camps and was made a formal training site for paramilitary S.S. troops before they were sent to run the new camps that Germany built across Eastern Europe when the war started. More than 40,000 people died in Dachau, which, over the 12 years it was active, held more than 200,000 prisoners.
Built less than 10 miles outside Munich, it also distinguished itself from camps constructed later during the regime, which were located far outside the Reich’s borders. The injustice and atrocities committed within the Dachau camp could not be easily ignored by the general population.
U.S. soldiers of the 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions who liberated the camp were among the first Americans to witness and document the horrors of the Nazi regime. The scenes they encountered entering the camp 80 years ago changed many men for life. On Sunday it was mostly the families of the liberators who attended the ceremony.
Of the survivors who came to Dachau on Sunday, most were in their 90s and 100s, indicating that this could be the last major anniversary involving people with firsthand memories of the camps. Among the youngest was Leslie Rosenthal, who had traveled from Canada. Born just three months before the liberation, Mr. Rosenthal recently celebrated his 80th birthday.
“With the passage of time, survivors and eyewitnesses are quickly dwindling,” he said, noting that he and the seven babies who were born in Dachau in the final months before liberation would soon become the “last living links to the Holocaust.”
World
Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung Crime Thriller ‘Made in Korea’ Sets Disney+ Debut
Hyun Bin and Jung Woo-sung go head-to-head in “Made in Korea,” a 1970s crime noir that launches Dec. 24 on Disney+ with a two-episode premiere.
The series stars Hyun Bin (“Crash Landing on You,” “Confidential Assignment”) as Baek Kitae, an ambitious KCIA agent in 1970s South Korea who leads a dangerous double life. By day, he works as a government operative, while by night he runs an illegal operation, using his underworld connections to consolidate power, protect his brother and generate substantial revenue for the agency.
Jung Woo-sung (“Tell Me That You Love Me,” “12.12: The Day”) co-stars as Jang Geonyoung, an incorruptible prosecutor determined to bring Kitae down. Woo Dohwan (“Bloodhounds,” “Mr. Plankton”) plays Kitae’s brother Baek Kihyun.
The series is written by Park Eunkyo (“Mother,” “A Normal Family,” “The Silent Sea”) and Park Joonseok (“A Normal Family”), directed by Woo Minho (“The Man Standing Next,” “Inside Men,” “Harbin”), and produced by Hive Media Corp (“Inside Men,” “The Man Standing Next,” “12.12: The Day”).
Following the two-episode premiere, “Made in Korea” will release two additional episodes on Dec. 31, with the final two episodes rolling out weekly through Jan. 14. The series has already been renewed for a second season, which is currently in production.
The thriller joins Disney+’s expanding slate of Korean drama content that launched in 2025, including “Unmasked,” “Nine Puzzles,” “Hyper Knife,” “Low Life,” “The Murky Stream” and “Tempest.”
The streamer has additional Korean series slated for 2026, including “Gold Land” starring Park Boyoung, “Perfect Crown” starring IU and Byeon Wooseok, and the return of “A Shop for Killers” for a second season with Lee Dongwook and Kim Hyejun.
World
Pope Leo XIV says he’s ‘very disappointed’ after Illinois approves assisted suicide law
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker meets with Pope Leo XIV
Illinois Democratic Gov. Jay Robert “JB” Pritzker met with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, a fellow native of the Land of Lincoln, at the Vatican this week. (Credit: REUTERS — No use Fox Weather/Outkick)
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Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday he was “very disappointed” after his home state of Illinois approved a law allowing medically assisted suicide.
Leo, who grew up in Chicago, said he had spoken “explicitly” with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker while the legislation was on his desk and urged him not to sign the bill into law, saying the measure undermines respect for human life from “the very beginning to the very end.”
“Unfortunately, for different reasons, he decided to sign that bill,” Leo told reporters outside Rome. “I am very disappointed about that.”
The Medical Aid in Dying Act, also referred to as “Deb’s Law,” was signed into law by Pritzker on Dec. 12 and allows eligible terminally ill adult patients to obtain life-ending medication after consultation with their doctors.
NY GOV. HOCHUL TO SIGN BILL TO LEGALIZE PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE: ‘WHO AM I TO DENY YOU?’
Pope Leo XIV met with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on Nov. 19 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
The measure was named after Deb Robertson, a lifelong Illinois resident with a rare terminal illness who had pushed for the bill’s approval.
The law takes effect in September 2026, giving participating healthcare providers and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) time to implement required processes and protections.
Leo said Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich also urged Pritzker not to sign the bill, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
BISHOPS, CATHOLIC GROUPS SLAM CARDINAL CUPICH’S PLAN TO HONOR PRO-ABORTION SEN DICK DURBIN: ‘GREAT SCANDAL’
Pope Leo XIV said he was very disappointed” that Illinois passed a law allowing medically assisted suicide. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
“I would invite all people, especially in these Christmas days, to reflect upon the nature of human life, the goodness of human life,” Leo said. “God became human like us to show us what it means really to live human life, and I hope and pray that the respect for life will once again grow in all moments of human existence, from conception to natural death.”
The state’s six Catholic dioceses have also criticized Pritzker’s decision to sign the bill, saying it puts Illinois “on a dangerous and heartbreaking path.”
Illinois joins a growing list of states allowing medically assisted suicide. Eleven other states and the District of Columbia allow medically assisted suicide, according to the advocacy group, Death with Dignity, and seven other states are considering allowing it.
After signing the bill, Pritzker said the legislation would allow patients with terminal illnesses to “avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives,” and said it would be “thoughtfully implemented” to guide physicians and patients through deeply personal decisions.
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Medical Aid in Dying Act on Dec. 12, allowing eligible terminally ill adult patients to obtain life-ending medication after consultation with their doctors. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Europeans show solidarity with Denmark after Trump’s Greenland threat
Published on
Exactly one year after Donald Trump first announced his intention to integrate Greenland into US territory on grounds of “national protection”, he’s back for more.
The US president has appointed Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as the new US special envoy for Greenland with the stated objective of “integrating Greenland into the United States” and repeated the US needs the territory for its national security.
His comments have been taken seriously by EU heads of state and government, who are presenting a united front against what they describe as American expansionist ambitions towards the autonomous territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, both responded to the announcement by reaffirming their support for the integrity of Denmark’s territory.
“Greenland belongs to its people. Denmark stands as its guarantor. I join my voice to that of Europeans in expressing our full solidarity.”
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters the United States “needs Greenland for national security, not for minerals or oil, but national security. And if you take a look at Greenland, there are Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. So, we need this for protection.”
He also chastised Denmark for what he described neglecting the territory, “they have spent no money, they have no military protection, they say Denmark arrived there 300 years ago with boats – we were there with boats too, I’m sure. We’ll have to work it all out.”
Adding to the European voices pushing back on the US ambitions and the criticism of Denmark, Commission Ursula von der Leyen insisted that “territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law”. Despite the tone coming out of Washington, she appeared to refer to the US as an ally in arctic security.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez echoed those remarks. “Respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity is central to the EU and to all nations of the world,” he wrote on X. “Security in the Arctic is a priority in which we seek to work with allies and partners.”
The US and Denmark are part of NATO, which is supposed to ensure mutual defence in the event of aggression against one of its members. That principle has never been tested by conflict between members of the alliance if one were to seize territory from another.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has so far remained silent on the issue. During a press conference with Trump in the White House’s Oval Office in March, he also chose not to comment after a question from a journalist.
“When it comes to Greenland, if it joins the US or not, I will leave that outside of me in this discussion because I don’t want to drag NATO into that,” he said.
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