Obama to visit Nazi concentration camp

BERLIN, May 8 (UPI) -- The White House can't confirm that President Obama will visit the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp this summer but Germany is making preparations.

Almost every senior official in the German states of Thuringa and Saxony already appear to have been informed about Obama's upcoming visit, expected to be on June 5, The Times of London reported Friday.

Thomas Steg, a spokesman for the German government, said Obama might visit "historical places" related to the different aspects of World War II as well as places that have "biographical references" for his family.

Obama's great-uncle, Charlie Payne, was among the American soldiers who liberated a satellite forced labor camp close to Buchenwald in April, 1945.

More than 50,000 people died at Buchenwald.

Visiting a concentration camp will send an important message to Israel and Jewish voters that Obama fully recognizes the horrors of the Holocaust, The Times said.