Buchenwald Memorial

Buchenwald Memorial preserves the site of the former Nazi concentration camp on Ettersberg hill near Weimar. Opened as a memorial in 1958 on the camp's ruins, it commemorates the 240,000 prisoners incarcerated here between 1937 and 1945 and the 56,000 who were killed. The expansive site includes the original camp gate ("Jedem das Seine"), foundations of barracks, the crematorium, and memorial sculptures. Exhibitions detail the camp's history – from its establishment for political prisoners (later also holding Jews, POWs, and others) to its liberation by US forces on 11 April 1945. A Soviet Special Camp operated here 1945–1950. Today the memorial complex serves as a place of remembrance and learning, with a museum, documentation center, and monuments (such as the Bell Tower and the "Path of Thistles"). Surrounded by quiet forest, Buchenwald Memorial invites visitors to reflect on the atrocities of the Nazi regime and to honor the victims.