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1937July 1937–April 1945; Soviet special camp 1945–1950 · Ettersberg, Weimar

Buchenwald concentration camp

The gatehouse of the former Buchenwald concentration camp on the Ettersberg, framed by bare winter trees
Photo: 1971markus. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The SS opened Buchenwald on the Ettersberg hill above Weimar in 1937. About 280,000 people from across Europe were held there and in its subcamps, and some 56,000 died. As US troops approached on 11 April 1945, prisoners took control of the camp. The Soviets then used it as an internment camp until 1950, and the memorial tells both histories.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Buchenwald MemorialCamp gate with its 'Jedem das Seine' slogan, the crematorium and the open camp grounds.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: GDR memorial and bell towerMonumental 1958 memorial on the hill's southern slope.Map ↗

Guides who take you there

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Also in Weimar, Erfurt and the Wartburg

More from the Second World War

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.