128 Bell Tower of the Buchenwald Memorial (Weimar)

128 Bell Tower of the Buchenwald Memorial (Weimar)

The Buchenwald concentration camp was one of the largest on German soil.

It was operated as a forced labor camp on the Ettersberg near Weimar from July 1937 to April 1945.

During this period, around 266,000 people from all European countries were incarcerated in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The estimated number of fatalities is about 56,000.

From August 1945 to February 1950, the Soviet occupying forces used the site as an internment camp.

They held 28,000 people captive, with over 7,000 dying.

The National Memorial and Monument Buchenwald, which was inaugurated by the GDR in 1958, underwent a comprehensive redesign in the 1990s.

Today, visitors can explore historical buildings, relics from the camp period, memorials, and four permanent exhibitions.

A wide, paved staircase leads to the Bell Tower. Inside the tower, there is a bronze plaque beneath which earth and ashes from other concentration camps are buried.

The Buchenwald bell in the tower’s top section was made by Franz Schilling from Apolda.

The crowning piece of the tower is a work by Fritz Kühn.

In addition to the exhibitions and the memorial with the bell tower, there are other memorials, monuments, and sites of remembrance at the former concentration camp.

On June 5, 2009, Buchenwald was visited by U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

 

Contact Information:

Foundation Memorials Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora
99427 Weimar
Phone: +49 (0)3643 430 0