Tireless commitment to fighting the reinterpretation of history

He combines scholarly research into the darkest chapters of German history with tireless civic engagement against all forms of historical revisionism: Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation since 2020 and professor of history in media and public life at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena.

On Wednesday, 26 November 2025, Jens-Christian Wagner was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in Weimar. The honour was presented by Minister President Mario Voigt. The proposal to award Jens-Christian Wagner the Order of Merit came from the former Minister President of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow. At the same time as Jens-Christian Wagner, the director of the Topf & Söhne memorial site in Erfurt, Prof. Dr. Annegret Schüle, was also honoured.

Director of the Bergen-Belsen and Mittelbau-Dora memorial sites

Jens-Christian Wagner, born in 1966, studied medieval and modern history, geography and Romance languages in Göttingen and Santiago de Chile. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Göttingen with a study on the history of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Jens-Christian Wagner was director of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp memorial site in Nordhausen from 2001 to 2014. From 2014 to 2020, Wagner headed the Bergen-Belsen Memorial in Celle and was managing director of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation. The historian has headed the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation since 2020.

Since taking office, Jens-Christian Wagner has repeatedly spoken out publicly and taken a clear and decisive stand against any attempts at historical revisionism. He has not been deterred by extremist hostility and has enforced bans on AfD politicians as long as they do not distance themselves from the anti-democratic, anti-human rights and historical revisionist positions of their party. ›The fact that Prof. Wagner continues undeterred despite massive insults and death threats deserves deep respect. He shows what it means to take a stand—not as a pose, but as a principle,‹ the laudatory speech said of Wagner.

Significant contribution to strengthening our democratic community

»I warmly congratulate Professor Jens-Christian Wagner on this award. I have great respect for his tireless efforts to counter all attempts to reinterpret German history. His work impressively demonstrates the responsibility that academia bears for facts and education. In this way, Professor Wagner makes an important contribution to strengthening our democratic community,« says Prof. Dr. Andreas Marx, President of Friedrich Schiller University Jena.