Visit to the Memorial Site of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp

Today we visited the memorial at the site of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Going to a concentration camp site always sets a person up with an uneasy feeling. Obviously death and destruction occurred at this camp, so it is unclear how you are supposed to react. Should you get emotional? Should you not? What prayers should you say?

We were fortunate that we had an excellent guide. When we began our tour, it started with a documentary about what happened at Buchenwald with survivor testimony. Buchenwald is in the city of Weimar. Buchenwald was a labor camp and not officially designated as a "death" camp, although many people died there. In addition to Jews, there were also political prisoners who were not Jewish. The documentary set a very sad and striking tone for our tour of the grounds of the memorial site. Our guide presented the information with a very strong moral message. He explained that he often guides young German students and tells them that there were many different types of prisoners. Even though many German students think only Jews and foreigners were prisoners, there were others. They may also think it is not personal because it does not directly affect them. The guide often tells these students that it does not affect them because ideas change and people with racist ideas may begin to hate you if you don't stand up. You cannot be passive because hate affects everyone.

When you first arrive at the site, there is a large parking lot full of cars and 4 yellow buildings. They all used to be the housing for the families of the SS men. Interestingly, people still live in the first two. The people who live inside are NOT SS men (or their descendents); but rather random Germans. These people had nowhere to live after WWII destroyed many buildings in the area. Instead of living under bridges or outside, people inhabited these apartments. Strange.

The first two houses on the left are still apartment buildings. The SS men lived in all four.

The wives and children of these SS men lived with their men while they were working at the camp. The wives had to prove going back 150 years that they had no Jewish lineage.

As we walked further into the camp site, there was a large concrete area that was a zoo. It was meant to be for the families of the SS men and for the SS men to have a bit of a "retreat" away from their work. The zoo was located right next to the camp. You could see the camp from next to the zoo and you could see the zoo from inside the camp. They seemed to have no consciousness or more likely, no dignity for humanity to do such a thing. I can't believe that they would expose their children to this, as if it is not real. The SS men seemed to convince themselves that their work at the concentration camp was part of everyday life.

zoo

The camp is on the left and the zoo is on the right. Rivky is standing exactly in between them.

There was a crematorium inside the camp, operated by prisoners. But, there was also one in Weimar. Normal (non-prisoner) people operated this crematorium. These people had to have seen the starved, strangled, sick dead people who came to them and had to have had some inclination about what was going on. They did and said nothing.