Memorial sites dedicated to the victims of the Nazi era and the East German dictatorship are to receive €10 million ($11.5 million) in additional funding next year, Germany's minister of state for culture, Wolfram Weimer, announced on Monday.
Half of the money is to go towards project funding, while the other half is intended to strengthen memorials already supported by the government, covering higher personnel costs and increased security spending.
According to Weimer, the beneficiaries will include the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camp memorials, the Topography of Terror museum in Berlin and the Saxon Memorials Foundation.
The announcement is subject to the draft budget for Weimer's portfolio passing through parliamentary budget negotiations unchanged.
"Especially at a time when disinformation and the distortion of history are on the rise and the voices of contemporary witnesses are falling silent, our culture of remembrance needs strong places of memory," Weimer said.
He added: "Those who deny historical facts or attack places of remembrance are relativizing our history and defaming the victims of violence and oppression. That is why we are strengthening the memorials not only in their educational and outreach work, but also supporting them in effectively protecting their staff, their visitors and the historical sites themselves."