WORKING IN THE LIBERATED CAMP - Buchenwald Memorial

Women from Weimar peeling potatoes in the cellar of the former prisoners’ kitchen, 27 May 1945. In the background: German survivor Ernst Neujahr and American soldiers. Photo: Charles W. Herr Jr. (U.S. Signal Corps) ©National Archives at College Park, Maryland

Clinton C. Gardner, acting American camp commander from May to early July 1945, describes the deployment of Weimar residents in the liberated camp according to orders from the U.S. Army:

“My first job was the cleaning of the camp, removal of all rubbish, burial of all bodies. To accomplish this I requested and got 500 citizens of Weimar every day for several weeks. Not only did this give the people a nice tour of the camp but afforded them opportunity to bale out latrines. In one big latrine they had to bale out considerable muck before they could remove a body that had been dumped there. At first, the Weimar people walked to camp, but we found the six miles exhausted them somewhat so we let them use our train.”

Letter from Clinton C. Gardner to his parents, 16 July 1945. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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An armed former prisoner supervises German civilians, around 26 April 1945. The men are digging in a mass grave created by the SS on the south slope of the Ettersberg, probably to uncover the remains of dead prisoners. Unknown photographer ©Arolsen Archives

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Civilians dig rows of graves on the south slope of the Ettersberg, around 26 April 1945. Unknown photographer
©United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Adolescents, probably from Weimar, dig up a lawn on “Caracho Path”, after 24 April 1945. Unknown photographer
©Dartmouth College, Hanover / New Hampshire

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Civilians or prisoners of war clean the camp’s sewage plant, between 28 April 1945 and 12 May 1945. Photo: William Garrison Birch ©United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Under the watchful eye of American soldiers, locals dig graves for those who died in Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald, 8 April 1945. The camp in Ohrdruf was liberated by the U.S. Army on 4 April. Photo: Charles Adilen ©Buchenwald Memorial

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Men from Nammering in Lower Bavaria bury the exhumed victims of an evacuation transport
from Buchenwald, 19 May 1945. Photo: J. Nestareck (U.S. Signal Corps) ©National Archives at College Park, Maryland

In late April 1945, the American city commander of Weimar demanded that locals be sent to the liberated camp to work. Every day for several weeks, at least 100 men and women from the town came to Buchenwald. They were joined by German prisoners of war who were forced to work in the liberated camp. They had to dig graves, bury the dead, clean up the camp and tidy the barracks. Other work sites included the camp kitchen, the sewage plant and the emergency hospitals. Similar involuntary work deployment also took place at other former crime sites.