Jorge Semprún
Biography
A Spanish communist deported to Buchenwald as a young man, liberated on 11 April 1945, and afterwards one of the writers through whom the camp reached readers who were never in it.
Madrid, Paris, arrest, 1923–1944
He was born in Madrid on 10 December 1923 and went into exile in Paris in 1937, at the start of the Spanish Civil War, where he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. In 1941 he joined the communist resistance movement Franc-Tireur et Partisans and in 1942 the Spanish Communist Party. He was arrested in September 1943 and deported to Buchenwald at the end of January 1944, registered as a "political Spaniard".[1]
The clerk in the labour statistics office
Inside the camp he held the influential position of clerk in the Arbeitsstatistik[1] — the office that allocated prisoners to work details — and he belonged to the clandestine resistance organisation of the Spanish prisoners. Those two facts go together: a place in the administration was what made clandestine work possible, because it meant knowing, and sometimes altering, where a man was sent.
Writing it afterwards, 1945–2011
He was liberated on 11 April 1945 and spent much of the rest of his life returning to it in print — "Le grand voyage" (1961) on the transport to Buchenwald, "Quel beau dimanche!" (1980) on his communist past against the camp, and "L'écriture ou la vie" (1994). He died in Paris on 7 June 2011. The square in front of Weimar's forced-labour museum carries his name.
Questions visitors ask
- What is Jorge Semprún's connection to Buchenwald?
- Deported there at the end of January 1944 as a "political Spaniard",[1] he worked as a clerk in the Arbeitsstatistik, the office allocating prisoners to work details, and belonged to the clandestine Spanish resistance organisation.
- What did Jorge Semprún write about Buchenwald?
- "Le grand voyage" (1961) on the transport there, "Quel beau dimanche!" (1980) on his communist past against the camp, and "L'écriture ou la vie" (1994).
- When was Jorge Semprún liberated?
- On 11 April 1945.
- Can I learn more about Jorge Semprún in Weimar?
- Yes, at the Buchenwald Memorial; the square in front of Weimar's forced-labour museum also carries his name.
Sources
- Jorge Semprún — Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, retrieved 29 August 2026
Connected Places in Weimar
Buchenwald, 99427 Weimar
A prisoner of the camp the memorial preserves, and one of the writers who made it legible to people who were never there.
Jorge-Semprún-Platz 5, 99423 Weimar
The museum's address is Jorge-Semprún-Platz: the square outside it is named for the writer, who was deported to Buchenwald and returned to the subject for the rest of his life.
Historical Context
Deported here at the end of January 1944 as a "political Spaniard" and held until the liberation.
The regime wanted Weimar for what its name meant, and it built a concentration camp on the hill above the town. Both facts belong to the same twelve years.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1923
2011
Spanish
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
From July 1937 the SS had prisoners build a camp on the Ettersberg, the wooded hill above the town. 277,800 people from more than fifty countries were held there; 56,000 did not survive.
One of the 277,800 taken to the camp; he worked in its labour statistics office.
On 11 April 1945, with armoured divisions of the US Third Army approaching, the SS were ordered out and armed prisoners took the camp gate.
Liberated on 11 April 1945, and a member of the clandestine organisation that acted that day.