Buchenwald, Germany - Buchenwald Travel Guide - Buchenwald Camp

Buchenwald

Buchenwald, Germany (cc)

Buchenwald Travel Guide

Introduction

Buchenwald occupies a sad place in history: it is the site of the notorious Buchenwald Concentration Camp. That the Nazis constructed a concentration camp practically in the shadows of Weimar, the historical intellectual center of Germany and spiritual home of German humanism, is a travesty of sorts. However, Buchenwald was a labor camp and not simply an extermination center. Between 1937 and 1945 approximately 250,000 Jews were interned here, of whom some 50,000 perished. Sadly, even after the war, between 1945 and 1950, the occupying Soviet forces continued to use the camp as an internment center, both to incarcerate former Nazis as well as people arrested arbitrarily. During this period roughly 28,000 prisoners were held here, of which some 7,000 died, an event that came to light only in the 1990s upon discovery of the mass graves.

Location

Buchenwald is located in a forested area on the northern slopes of Ettersburg, just 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Weimar.

How to Get There

Sightseeing

Neighborhoods

How to Get Around

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Where to Party

Essential Information

Nearby Destinations

How to Get There

Sightseeing

At Buchenwald there is now a memorial, Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, located at the site of the original camp where only the foundations of most of the buildings remain. The sign at the main gate still displays the original message, "JEDEM DAS SEINE" – literally, "to each his own"; figuratively, "everyone gets what they deserve." There is also a museum here, housed in the former storehouse, and a few surviving buildings that include the crematorium, the disinfection building, the arrest cells, and the prisoners' canteen. There is a small fee for public tours.

Main Neighborhoods