This entry will concern itself with our visit to the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. We were there on August 17th. The following is from the journal I have been keeping.
At about 10:30, we set out for Buchenwald. We headed in the general direction and used the maps but it was not well marked. We did happen across it though and made our way in. We were there from about 11:00 to 4:30. As we expected it was probably the deepest time of the trip. We got a video guide and several pamphlets.
The tour starts in the area where the SS had their barracks. Then it goes to the remains of the train station and the road down which the people were herded/rushed into the camp by both guards and dogs. We then went into the camp itself. There are only a few buildings remaining but the outlines of the many barracks have been marked in crushed stone. As such, the layout of the camp is clear.
The front gate has on it a saying in German which translated means, “To each his own.” It seems odd but perhaps it was a way for the Nazis to say that they had chosen one way and the prisoners had chosen another. First, we walked to the crematorium. This was a building in which the dead were cremated and also in which a number were murdered by strangulation.
After that we went to the disinfection station were arrivals were stripped and made to go through a stinging disinfectant bath. The permanent art exhibit is housed here. The building next to it was the Depot. This large structure is where the prisoners had to leave their belongings. This is now the museum which is very good showing many aspects to Buchenwald. It covers the building of the camp which was begun in 1937, the stages of its growth (It would be the third largest camp.), the prisoners, the SS guards, the harsh, tortuous conditions, and finally the liberation by the U.S. Army in the spring of 1945.
After spending quite a bit of time in the Depot, we walked to the Russian exhibit. After the war, the Soviets used the camp for about five years to hold 1,000’s more whom it suspected of being former Nazis.
We then walked around the area where the prisoners’ barracks were and the different memorials to different groups. While we were doing this, there was a group of Jews laying a wreath and having a service at the Jewish memorial.
The Jews were by no means the only ones at Buchenwald and may not have been the largest group. There were many Russian POW’s. in addition, there were people from different countries, many gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, and homosexuals. There was also a small contingent of Allied soldiers. The Russians and Jews were singled out for much of the harshest treatment. A number of Russians were executed using a device which looked like a part of a physical exam. It was the place where height was measured. When the victim stood with his back to the wall, there was a slot in the wall where the killer held a pistol and shot the victim in the nape of the neck.
Our time there was a time to confront the ways which hatred and fear can lead people to do horrendous things. We were also reminded of the ways in which such brutality was both systemic and systematic.
After we were done, we got into the car and ate a bit as we had not felt like eating while going through such horror. We then drove back to Erfurt.
As a warning, some of the following may be difficult to look at.
This is a picture of what remains of the train station at Buchenwald. Originally, people were brought in by bus or were forced to march. The train line was built when the SS started an armament factory at the camp. It was then that people were brought to the camp by train.
This is the front gate with the camp behind it.
Here is the saying on the front gate, "To each his own."
This is the depot at which people had to give up all their belongings.
This is the crematorium. People were not gassed at Buchenwald. Here the intent was death through labor.
One of the ovens used to cremate the dead.
This is the device I mentioned in the text. Made to look like a device to measure height, the victim would stand with his back to the wall. He would then be shot in through the nape of the neck. An untold number of Russian soldier POW's were murdered in this way.
This room was in the basement of the crematorium. The hooks were used to strangle over 1,000 innocent people.
These are the remains of what was euphemistically called the "hygiene unit." It was the barracks where the SS purposely infected people in order to try out different drugs to see whether or not they worked.
This statue is in the permanent art exhibit at Buchenwald. It well describes the results of this horror.
While we were there a group of Jewish people laid a wreath and held a memorial service.
There were thousands of gypsies also killed at Buchenwald. This is the memorial to them.
Here is one of guard towers and the fence used to keep the people trapped in this place of living and dying hell.
The time on the clock tower has been set to show the time the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army.
God bless us all to pursue the ways of compassion, understanding, and justice.
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