Weimar Things to Do

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Here are the parts of the memorial site Buchenwald that we visited:

*arrest cells
*entrance to the prison complex
*memorial plaques
*crematory
*former hardware and clothing inventory, now biggest exhibition room

The arrest cells (so-called bunker) are actually part of the gate to the prison. Prisoners were kept in ca. 20 narrow, dark, cold cells and were often subject to torture by their cruel guards. The cells have been preserved in more or less their original state and are thereby informative evidence of how brutal prisoners were kept here (see picture).

The next point one passes when heading to the exhibition rooms is the actual gate of the prison complex. The gate is evidence of the cynicism with which the Nazi regime sometimes treated its opponents. It boasts a wrought-iron inscription saying "Jedem das Seine" (i.e. "Everybody what he deserves"). Combined with what the imprisoned had to expect beyond that gate, it's cynicism with hardly any comparison.

Following the path towards the crematory (on one's right side), you pass by several large memorial plaques for special groups imprisoned at Buchenwald.

The crematory and its adjacent rooms again impressively show the regime's brutality. In the cellar of the building, iron hooks at the walls were used for strangulating prisoners. The dead bodies were then burned in giant ovens and the ashes simply thrown away. Gravestones of people who died here are displayed in one room, an info box about the brutal methods in another. (see picture)

At the lower end of the complex you finally reach the KZ's main exhibition rooms. There is one exhibition on the first floor which gives a good overview about the life in the concentration camp and also displays many items found at Buchenwald. On the second floor, changing exhibitions take place.

The cruelest part of Germany's history is no doubt the Nazi era between 1933 and 1945. During that time, numerous concentration camps (KZs) were opened on German territory. Near Weimar, one of the most infamous is found: Buchenwald.
Buchenwald was opened in July 1937. In the beginning, it was only a camp for Jews, Homosexuals and others who were regarded asocial by the Nazi regime. Later, most of its inmates were foreigners, e.g. from Eastern European countries. Despite the camp was not built as an extermination camp (like Auschwitz), more than 50.000 people died in Buchenwald. A large number of them died due to incredibly hard labour. Others became victims of SS cruelties or medical experiments. In its 8 years of existence, more than 250000 people were imprisoned in Buchenwald. The camp was liberated by the US army on April 11th, 1945. What is hardly known, however, is that it continued to serve as a prison until 1950. The Soviet occupation forces imprisoned 28000 people here of which 7000 died.
Buchenwald was then closed and widely torn down in 1951. In 1958, the GDR government opened the memorial Buchenwald which still exists today.

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From 1943 Buchenwald Concentration Camp had its own train station that was at first used for transporting goods to and from the armament factory that was next to the station. Later in the war the trains were used to transport prisoners to and from Buchenwald. The armaments factory was bombed by the allies on the 24th August 1944 killing nearly 400 people and injuring nearly 2,000. Bombs fell on some other parts of camp and as many and 8,000 people could have been kill and injured altogether. The platform and some of the railway lines can still be seen, nothing is left of the former armaments factory and it is totally overgrown.

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The Little Camp was set up in 1942 as a quarantine camp and was separated from the main camp by barbed wire. As time went on Jews were sent to the Little Camp and it became grossly overcrowded and disease became rampant. Because of the harsh conditions the death rate became much higher than the main camp. A memorial was set up in memory to the victims of the Little Camp in 2002.

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Buchenwald Concentration Camp had a canteen for the prisoners. Though the conditions were extremely harsh, it was a work camp where prisoners received camp money for their labours of up to 10 marks a week. The money could only be used in the camp to purchase items in the canteen such as soap, razors, tobacco and food. The irony of camp money is has now become rare and now changes hands for large sums of money.

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The Buchenwald Concentration Camp was surrounded by an electrified barb wire fence. It was 3 kms in length and had 22 guards towers each manned by 3 men. Only 2 of the guard towers are still intact with 2 more that are ruins. Hundreds of prisoners were shot for getting too close to the wire or attempting to escape. The outside of the camp was patrolled by sentries who had a specially constructed footpath on which to walk around the fence.

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Another more sinister reason for the crematorium building was an execution cellar where prisoners could be secretly executed. Russian prisoners were brought into a room, under the pretext of measuring their height. There was a hole in the measure from which there could be shot in the back of the neck. There is another room with hooks from which prisoners where slowly hung.

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The crematorium, which was built in 1942, is one of the few buildings at Buchenwald that has survived. Unusually the crematorium is located inside the camp, whereas normally they were outside of the camps. There is a copse cellar where the bodies were thrown into before cremation. There was a pathology room where gold filling could be extracted from the bodies. There is a display of empty urns which were found in the crematorium. In the early days of the camp the ashes of inmates were returned to the families.