Buchenwald–Feb. 7

The Carrolls left the ACU Villa the morning of February 7 with the students and headed to the train station to catch a train to Weimar. While it has been cold, it hasn’t been as bitterly cold as the weekend in Berlin. Once in Weimar, we dropped off our things at our hotel, picked up lunch, and gathered again to board the city bus to Buchenwald.

If you want to learn about the Holocaust, much has been written. I am not equipped to tell that story with the immensity of its tragedy. I will speak to what I learned at Buchenwald.

Buchenwald was a concentration camp. Concentration camps “concentrated” populations of undesirables. The first inmates at Buchenwald were political figures from the Social Democrats and Communists–the two parties that formed the greatest threat to the National Socialists (Nazis). Criminals and anti-socials (people on welfare) soon followed. Roma and Sinti also did. Jews eventually arrived as well. As the different groups arrived, they were given patches/icons to wear on their uniform to designate the group that caused them to be at Buchenwald, and the ranking system of those groups was made clear. People at concentration camps were assigned work details (the first group to arrive built the camp) at the munitions factory at the camp, in Weimar, and in other local cities. Buchenwald was not an extermination camp. 56,000 of the 250,000 interned at Buchenwald did die, but they most often did so from hunger, exposure or disease. Some were simply directly murdered. In particular, Russian POWs were the group most often targeted for extermination upon arrival at the camp. The crematorium eventually had to be altered to accommodate the number of dead–each of the multiple units redesigned to accommodate six bodies at once instead of one. As it became apparent the war was coming to an end, the Nazis did try to ship prisoners to extermination camps to eliminate evidence of what happened there, but they did not start soon enough, and many lived to see the liberation of the camp. I found it interesting that prisoners who had hidden stolen weapons actually liberated the camp hours before the Allies arrived and handed the camp over to the American forces who were first to enter.

The system designed to deploy prisoners as workers, as well as the smaller system designed to murder some of the prisoners, demonstrated significant forethought. The desire to create hierarchies within the system was fairly transparent–in the beginning criminals were given authority among the prisoners to assign work crews in order to humiliate Social Democrats and Communists (who were previously influential and often well-educated) but the work crews were less effective and their plans for distributing food led to too many starvation deaths among a group desired for labor. Still, Sinti, Roma, and Jews were put in worse barracks and treated far worse than the other groups. Buchenwald was a male concentration camp–all of the interned workers were male. Some females were interned there. A few were held there to apply pressure on known German resistance figures and released if their relative/s turned themselves in or joined the Nazi party. Some worked as nurses in one area of the camp. And some–almost always Sinti, Roma, or Jewish–were placed in a brothel. The Nazis were concerned that an all-male camp would result in increased homosexuality, and the prisoners highest on the hierarchy were allowed access to the brothel. Any pregnancies among the women in the brothel were aborted.

From the height of Buchenwald, which was much colder than Weimar, you can see several small towns around the camp as well as Weimar in the distance. They could also see Buchenwald; particularly, since spotlights were placed at regular intervals around the perimeter. Additionally, Buchenwald received deliveries from Weimar daily, the soldiers stationed there (who were young–I think most were first stationed there at 16 or 17) were encouraged to have their families visit them, and work crews left daily for Weimar and surrounding towns. This is important to remember because everyone the Americans interviewed in Weimar said they didn’t know about the camp, but the logistics would have made that nearly impossible.

The sign on Buchenwald’s gate says “To each his own”, which means “everyone has their place”. It reminded the prisoners Buchenwald was the place they deserved, and the Nazis were in their rightful place. I could go on much longer, but I won’t. With brief commentary, here are most of the images I took from Buchenwald. It felt wrong to document the place through images–perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words, but images can’t capture the scope of the wrong of this place.

The prison gate, from the inside. In contrast, Auschwitz’s notorious “Work Will Set You Free” faced prisoners as they entered the camp.

The memorial to all of those who lived through or died at Buchenwald, listing their nationalities or ethnicities. This outdoor plaque is always warmed to 98.6 degrees to remind observers that all human life is sacred.

All of the original barracks housing prisoners have been destroyed. In their footprints, any group can place a plaque memorializing those housed in the various blocs. Here are two stones side by side–one commemorates Allied (including USAAF) prisoners of war housed there while the other commemorates those imprisoned for homosexuality (their uniforms bore pink triangles–status was designated by icons).

On the perimeter of the camp, Ethan Lewis found a small bunker. Based on the orientation of the entrance and exit, I am guessing this provided foot access under a fence.

The interior of the small bunker. There was a small (guard?) room that would have been situated on the camp side of the fence with a chimney.

I don’t know how to end this post. In our discussions with the students, they were surprised survivors came back to the camp each year to mark the day of liberation and surviving the camp. My feelings while at the camp were overwhelming. As I think about the student’s surprise, I conjecture that coming back is an act of defiance, saying “I am still here”. At this moment, I have to content myself with knowing that I remember this happened and with the fact that Buchenwald as memorial means that no one can still say “I didn’t know what was happening there”.