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On this day of remembrance, we honor not only the victims of fascism—but the rare few who stood against it when silence was easier.
Joachim Ernst, the last Duke of Anhalt, never joined the Nazi Party—despite the falsehoods history has allowed to linger. He protected his Jewish citizens. He opposed the regime. And for his defiance, he was arrested, imprisoned in Dachau, and returned home only after falling gravely ill.
When the war ended and Soviet forces advanced, the Americans offered him safe passage. He declined—placing his trust in the centuries-old bond between his house and Russia, from which even Catherine the Great had descended. But in the chaos, former Nazis cloaked in communist uniforms betrayed him.
He was taken to Buchenwald. There, he died, silenced, but never broken.
‍Most followed the regime. He did not.
‍
We remember him for his courage. We honor him for his character.
Let history never forget those who risked everything to protect their people.
The House of Ascania
and the Knights of the Order Albert the Bear
Joachim Ernst, the last Duke of Anhalt, never joined the Nazi Party—despite the falsehoods history has allowed to linger. He protected his Jewish citizens. He opposed the regime. And for his defiance, he was arrested, imprisoned in Dachau, and returned home only after falling gravely ill.
When the war ended and Soviet forces advanced, the Americans offered him safe passage. He declined—placing his trust in the centuries-old bond between his house and Russia, from which even Catherine the Great had descended. But in the chaos, former Nazis cloaked in communist uniforms betrayed him.
He was taken to Buchenwald. There, he died, silenced, but never broken.
‍Most followed the regime. He did not.
‍
We remember him for his courage. We honor him for his character.
Let history never forget those who risked everything to protect their people.
The House of Ascania
and the Knights of the Order Albert the Bear
Here, in this courtyard, I saw my father for the last time,” recalls the prince. He was only a small child when his father was taken—too young for memories, yet old enough to feel the weight of absence.
That silence, that sudden emptiness, speaks louder than any recollection. The gravestone stands not merely as a marker of death, but as a quiet testament to a noble life cut short by injustice— and remembered, decades later, by a son and a House that never forgot.
