Buchenwald

Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg Hill near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany, in July 1937. The name "Buchenwald" is German for "beech forest", as the camp was located in Buchenwald forest. The prisoners were used as slave labour in local armament factories.

Related Topics:
Nazi - Concentration camp - Weimar - Thuringia - Germany - 1937 - German - Beech - Forest

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The first commandant was Karl Otto Koch, who ran the camp from 1937 to 1941. His second wife, Ilse Koch, became notorious as "The Witch of Buchenwald" ("Die Hexe von Buchenwald", and informally "The Bitch of Buchenwald"), for her streak of cruelty. Karl Otto Koch was tried and executed by the Nazi authorities for forgery and embezzlement in April 1945, whilst Ilse was sentenced to life imprisonment by the post-war German authorities, committing suicide in her cell in 1967.

Related Topics:
Karl Otto Koch - 1937 - 1941 - Ilse Koch - 1945 - 1967

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Although not technically an extermination camp, mass killings of prisoners of war took place at Buchenwald, and many inmates died during medical experiments, or fell victim to arbitrary acts perpetrated by the SS guards.

Related Topics:
Extermination camp - Prisoners of war - SS

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The camp was also the site of large-scale testing of vaccines for epidemic typhus in 1942 and 1943, all in all testing 729 inmates, around 280 of whom died. Because of their long association in cramped quarters in Block 46, the bacterium killed more and infection lasted longer than typhus in healthy adults.

Related Topics:
Vaccine - Epidemic typhus - 1942 - 1943

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The camp was evacuated by the Nazis as Allied troops approached the area, and the U.S. 3rd Army assumed control of the camp on 11 April, 1945.

Related Topics:
11 April - 1945

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After the departure of Allied troops, the Soviet occupation forces used the infrastructure of the camp from 1945 to 1950, re-naming it "Special Camp 2". It was used to house German prisoners, and Soviet records indicate that over 7,000 died.

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