Buchenwald Memorial
Buchenwald Concentration Camp was established on Ettersberg Hill near Weimar, Thuringia in July 1937. At the beginning, it was intended for political opponents of the Nazi regime, separatists, so-called social misfits, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals. After the start of World War ll, more and more people were sent to the camp from other countries. At the time of the camp’s liberation, 95 per cent of the inmates were not Germans. Especially from 1943 on, concentration camp inmates were being ruthlessly exploited for the armament industry in Buchenwald and at the camp’s 136 external sites, including even women from the autumn of 1944 on. Although it was not a place of planned genocide in itself, mass killings of prisoners of war took place in the camp, and many inmates died because of medical experiments, or fell victim to arbitrary acts perpetrated by the SS. The selection of inmates to be sent to extermination camps made Buchenwald an integral part of the National-Socialist extermination apparatus. Early in 1945, the camp became the final destination of evacuation transports from Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen. In an attempt to clear the camp a short time before its liberation, the SS sent approximately 28,000 prisoners on death marches. But around 21,000 prisoners, including 900 children and young people, remained in the camp.
On 11th April 1945, units of the 3rd US Army reached Ettersberg Hill. The SS fled and the prisoners who were part of the clandestine resistance organization opened the camp from within. Between 1937 and 1945, more than 250,000 people were held captive in the camp and more than 50,000 of them died during this time.
From 1945 to 1950, the Soviet occupation forces used the area of the former concentration camp as an internment camp (Special Camp No. 2.) The persons sent to this camp mainly included members of the NSDAP (i.e., the Fascist party), officials in positions close to the National-Socialist regime, but also people arrested in an arbitrary way. Among the total of approximately 28,000 internees, 7,000 died mainly as a consequence of neglect and undernourishment. The dead were buried in mass graves located north of the camp and near the railway station.
Most of the camp was demolished in the process of establishing a memorial to anti-Fascist resistance after 1951. In 1958, it was inaugurated together with the monument as “Buchenwald National Memorial”.
Today, Buchenwald Memorial is part of the Memorial Foundation of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora that is jointly managed by the federal government and by the State of Thuringia. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the National-Socialist concentration camp, and of the former Soviet internment camp located on the territory of the concentration camp. Priority is given to the commemoration of the concentration camp.
Your visit to the Memorial starts in Weimar.
The groups of prisoners transported to the camp arrived in Weimar before being taken to Buchenwald. Trains also passed the Weimar station on their way to the extermination camps. Many buildings which served the National-Socialist system are still preserved in the town itself, recalling the crimes perpetrated there as well as on Ettersberg Hill.
This includes the Marstall, i.e., the Prince’s stables, used as Gestapo headquarters; the regional court; the former Gauforum, an administration complex started in 1937 but not completed. As in those days, the way from the town to Buchenwald follows Ettersburger Strasse. The access road to the camp (“The Road of Blood”) branches off at Frederic-Manhes-Platz (obelisk erected in 1961) about two kilometres after the place-name sign of Weimar. This road was built by camp inmates in 1939, and parts of it are still in their original condition. The railway line laid by prisoners in 1943 ran parallel to this road.
Three kilometres up the road, you will see the Monument (1958) on your left. After this, you are going to pass by the SS military garages (left), and by the Gustloff Factories No. II., a former armament factory situated on the right-hand side. Today, both areas are covered by vegetation. Further down, you will reach the former railway station of Buchenwald, which was used as a site of transit for people from all over Europe who were sent to work in armament factories from 1943 on. Transports also started from this station, carrying those prisoners unable to work any longer to the extermination camps. In 1945, it became its final destination of evacuation transports arriving from the camps in the east. The road from the station was the direct access to the camp, called “Karakho” path. The buildings of the camp’s administration were located at the sides of this path, with the petrol
station, garages and commandant’s office (1938) being preserved to this day.
Car and bus parks are located on the site of the former SS parade ground. Some of the barracks (1937-1939) have been preserved, and they are used by the Memorial’s administration.
Walk 1 (about 1/2 hours)
The gate building (1937) was the main watchtower, and its side wings housed arrest cells (“Bunker”) and offices for the SS camp administration. The camp gate bears the inscription “To Each His Own.” Camp fence and watchtowers - 2 of the 22 watchtowers have been preserved (but they are not accessible.)
Mustering ground - the place for the roll call held to count the inmates in the morning and in the evening, and the site of punishments and executions.
The camp barracks have not been preserved but their locations are marked by stones carrying the corresponding block number. Their outlines are shown by broken stone layers consisting of lag placed in 1975.
Wooden barrack - This former “functional barrack” (1945) was found again in the town of Tambach-Dietharz in 1993, and rebuilt in the camp in 1994.
Prisoners’ infirmary - built upon the insistence of political prisoners in 1938. The foundations of some barracks have been preserved.
Typhoid research station (1942) in former block 46, used by the Waffen SS to perform experiments on human beings until 1945, outlines still noticeable.
Typhoid serum institute (1939/42) in block 50 formerly made of bricks, used by the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS to produce serum against typhoid fever, foundation walls uncovered.
“Goethe’s Oak” - on old oak standing on the camp area, called “Goethe’s Oak” by the prisoners. Damaged by bombs in August 1944 and cut down afterwards, the stump remained.
Stone carriage and stake used for the punishment of “hanging on the tree.” These are replicas standing by the side of the crematorium.
Greenhouses of garden department - located behind the storehouse, foundations uncovered.
Small camp - set up as a quarantine camp in 1942, separated from the main camp by a barbed wire, turned into a camp for sick and dying people after the mass evacuation from the camps in the east in 1944 and 1945. Trees planted and area covered by vegetation after 1945, systematic uncovering under way since 1991.
Panels with information and memorial stones recalling important places and events are located all over the camp area.
Memorial stones to the victims of the special camps (1954/55) - Special camps had been installed provisionally by the sides of the mustering ground. People died in them as a consequence of arbitrary acts committed by the SS. (This included the camp for Jewish men in 1938/39, the tent camp set up for Poles and Jews from Vienna in the winter from 1939 to 1940, and the camp for Soviet prisoners of war in 1941.).
Memorial to Rudolf Breitscheid (1960) - at the site of the former isolation barrack for prominent prisoners (Fichtenhain Special Camp) where Breitscheid was interned and died during an air raid in August 1944.
Jewish Memorial (1993) - established on the ground surface of block 22, using stones from the quarry of Buchenwald.
Memorial to murdered Sinti and Romany Gypsies (1995) - located at block 14.
Memorial panel to all inmates of the concentration camp (1995) - located at the site of the first monument on the mustering ground where the survivors of the concentration camp gathered in memory of their dead comrades on April 19, 1945, swearing the Oath of Buchenwald.
Memorial Site of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Friedrich von Rabenau und Ludwig Gehre (1999) - uncovered arrest cells in the cellar of a barrack of the Waffen SS near the quarry where Bonhoeffer and members of the conspiracy against Hitler were arrested in 1945 before their execution in Flossenbürg.
Walk 2 (about 2 hours)
Buildings and Museums
Arrest cells in the gate building (“Bunker”) (1937) - arranged as a memorial to remember the prisoners murdered here.
Prisoners’ canteen (1942) - a sales facility operated in the camp by the SS, and established as “Room of Honour to the Nations” in 1964. It houses conference and exhibition rooms. Occasional exhibitions on various subjects are held in the basement.
The crematorium (1940) - It includes an extension arranged as a museum showing the installation to kill prisoners by a shot to their necks, a cellar used for executions and for the storage of dead bodies, crematory ovens made by the company Topf und Soehne, Erfurt, a commemoration room and the former pathological department.
Disinfection building (1942) - former disinfection chambers used as an art museum since 1990, showing exhibitions on various subjects.
Storehouse (1939) - contained the prisoners’ clothing department used to store the personal effects of the inmates, serving as a museum since 1985, and reopened in 1995 showing the permanent historical exhibition on the history of the concentration camp which covers the following sections:
- “...Right In the Midst of the German People”
- Organization of Crime
- The Routine of Crime
- The Camp During “Total War”
- Death and Survival
- “We, who have risen from the dead...”
Explanatory booklets on the exhibition are available in German, English, French, Hebrew, and Russian.
Walk 3 (about 1 1/2 hours)
SS-Aera
The administration buildings of the concentration camp were situated along the access road to the camp, i.e., the “Karakho” Path between railway station and camp gate. Only the middle part of the commandantÕs office has been preserved, including the dog-kennel (1938), petrol station and garages (1938.)
SS Zoo (1938) - a leisure garden for the families of the SS guards by the side of the prisonersÕ camp. Its general setup and the bear- garden have been preserved.
Horse stable (1940) - converted into a shooting installation in 1941 (see the model of the installation used for shooting prisoners in the neck located in the extension to the crematorium), foundations still existing.
Riding hall (1940) - the foundations of Commandant Koch’s riding hall have been preserved opposite the horse stable.
Arsenal, SS military band - remains of buildings on the way to the quarry.
The limestone quarry, the reason for selecting Ettersberg Hill as the camp’s location, furnished the material for the construction of buildings and roads. In the quarry, the SS exposed camp inmates to extreme physical exploitation and abuse. It also served as a place for executions.
SS commanders’ settlement (1937) - villas of the SS commanders and their families, foundations uncovered.
SS falcon court (1938) - the falcon court was also open to the public, remains of the buildings can still be seen today.
Grave of ashes (1944/45) - a natural depression in the immediate vicinity of the SS commanders’ settlement. The SS had carried ashes from the crematorium to this site; recovered in 1965, established and opened in 1967; later on neglected (uncovered in 1993/94, equipped with “MEMENTO” from the monument on the mass graves in the Field of Honour).
Walk 4 (about 1 1/2 hours)
Special Camp No. 2
Hardly anything has been preserved of the facilities of the Soviet internment camp, which operated mainly in the buildings of Buchenwald Concentration Camp (from 1945 to 1950). This camp was not commemorated in the German Democratic Republic.
Graveyard - Those who died in this Special Camp have been commemorated since1990. The anonymous mass graves have been marked by pillars made of steel, arranged as a forest cemetery (1995).
Cross and memorial stones (1990) - indicate a place for individual mourning on the cemetery.
Permanent exhibition on the history of the Soviet Special Camp - From 1995 to 1997 a separate exhibition building has been established opposite of the graveyards . The exhibition (1997) includes four sections:
- The Soviet Special Camps and the end of the war
- Structures and function of Buchenwald Special Camp
- Life and Death in Buchenwald Special Camp
- The End of the Special Camps
Explanatory booklets on the exhibition are available in German and English.
Walk 5 (about 1-1 1/2 hours)
The Monument
Following a decision made by the government of the German Democratic Republic in 1954, the construction of a monument and memorial site began. By 1958, a monumenal nation memorial had been constructed on the southern slope of Ettersberg Hill. It was located at the place of the Bismarck Tower blown up in 1949. Three large mass graves were included in the Monument’s setup which follows a didactic concept, leading the visitor on a journey from death to life.
The visitor starts at the crematorium, passes through the camp, goes down the stairs to the graves, and finally goes up the stairway to the bell tower, the symbol of freedom and light.
If you wish to follow this process, we recommend you see the Monument following these directions:
Entrance gate - the descent to the graves starts here.
Stelae road - stelae pillars line the path, reflecting episodes of camp life (sculptures by R. Graetz, Waldemar Grzimek, and Hans Kies; texts on the rearside by Johannes R. Becher).
Ring tombs - the SS had buried approximately 3000 dead bodies in natural depressions in March and April 1945. Three funnel-shaped tombs were included in the Monument’s general design as ring tombs.
Road of nations - Brick pillars with the names of 18 nations stand along a wide road which connects the ring tombs.
Sculpture group - The stairway with light-coloured steps leads up to the bell tower. The Buchenwald sculpture group by Fritz Cremer stands in front of it, representing resistance in the camp.
Bell tower - Earth from other concentration camps has been placed under a bronze plaque in the tower. The top of the tower houses a bell made of bronze. Among other purposes, the square around the tower served as a site of self-legitimation by the authorities of the German Democratic Republic during celebrations of the anniversary of the concentration camp’s liberation, mass meetings, and military swearing-in ceremonies.
The Permanent Exhibition on the History of the Buchenwald Memorial (1999) - the history of the Buchenwald Memorial since 1945 is documented in a new building at the entrance to the area of the monument.
An accompanying brochure to the exhibition is available.
Cemetery
Many people died as a consequence of camp detention even after the concentration camp’s liberation. Four hundred of them were buried in tomb rows in the area of the Bismarck Tower. The 1286 urns stored in the basement of the Bismarck Tower were buried under a hewn stone. Parts of the tomb rows were relocated during the Monument’s construction and forgotten later. In 1996 the cemetery was rearranged, placing name plates on the tomb rows.
Opportunities for Education and Research
Guided Tours
The Memorial offers guided tours for groups of visitors, specially for school classes (from the 9th form), youth groups and young adults who come to the memorial in the course of their school education or their training. Tours, specially for individual visitors are only possible by way of exception.
For tours of groups - as many as 30 persons - the charges are 50,- marks; pupils, students, persons doing civilian and military service, disabled persons and senior citizens pay 25,- marks.
Because of the high demand please arrange your tours well in advance.
Telephone 03643 / 430200 or Telefax 03643 / 430102
Information for Visitors
An information office has been opened at the car park to give orientation during your visit to the Memorial. The office is ready to give advice on your individual tour, distribute printed information, and answer any specific question.
The cinema of the Memorial shows an introductory film (of about 30 minutes) several times per day (except Monday.) Additional showings of the film are available to visiting groups by request.
Meeting Place for Young People
A meeting centre for young people has been established at Buchenwald Memorial. It offers overnight accommodations and is open to groups of young people, teachers, associations and other interested persons who wish to hold seminars or to study particular subjects with their groups. In addition to events lasting several days, the meeting centre can organize stays of about one week, allowing your group of students to investigate subjects of interest with the support of experienced advisers. Please make your appointment well in advance since many demands are made for the meeting centre.
For detailed information please call the meeting centre.
Telephone: 03643-430190 Telefax: 03643-430102
Restaurants
Self-service restaurant at the car park
Telephone: 03643-430300
Open every day from 9 am to 5 pm.
Waldgaststaette Roedger
Telephone: 03643-422297
Open from 11 am to 8 pm from Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays.
Buchenwald Memorial
D-99427 Weimar-Buchenwald
Telephone: 03643-4300
Telefax: 03643-430100
Internet: http://www.buchenwald.de
e-mail: buchenwald@buchenwald.de
Public Relations 03643-430143
Information for Visitors 03643-430200
Appointments for guided tours for groups
Telefax 03643-430102
Meeting Centre for Young People 03643-430102
How to reach Buchenwald Memorial?
Buchenwald Memorial is situated about 10 kilometres north of the city centre of Weimar. You can come by car, or take bus line no. 6 to Buchenwald from Goetheplatz or from the main railway station. Do not take the bus showing “Ettersburg”.
Where to obtain information and literature about the Memorial:
Ask the information office at the car park if you would like any advice before starting your tour.
We offer a brochure on Buchenwald with guidelines to see the camp, giving short matter-of-fact explanations on the camp. A guidebook to tour the memorial site is available in German, English and French.
When to see the Memorial Site and the museums:
All outdoor installations, i.e., former camp area, SS area, the graveyards of the internment camp, and the monument are open daily until nightfall.
Exhibitions and museum facilities, i.e., the cells in the gate building, the former prisoners’ canteen, crematorium, disinfection building, storehouse, the exhibition on the history of the Special Camp are open during the following hours:
from 1st May to 30th September
9.45 am - 6 pm (last entry at 5.15 pm)
from 1st October to 30th April
8.45 am - 5 pm (last entry at 4.15 pm).
Closed on Mondays
Entrance to the Memorial and its exhibitions is free of charge. You can make a donation to support the work of the Memorial to account number 301009171 at Sparkasse Weimar, German bank code number BLZ 820 510 00.
Text by: Ursula Haertl
Photographs by: Gabriele Krynitzki, Naomi Tereza Salmon
Graphic: Hinz&Kunz - Graphische Werkstatt und VerlagsGmbH
Braunschweig Peter Wentzler
Translated: Agnes Nattermüller, Roswitha Burwick
Layout and print by: Buch- und Kunstdruckerei Kessler GmbH Weimar
Buchenwald Memorial 2000