Outdoor exhibition

A path through Buchenwald on the 79th anniversary of the liberation on 16 April 2023 (start: 1:30 p.m.)

Many different people and initiatives are involved in remembering and analysing the history of Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Together with this network, the memorial organises the "History. Awareness. Make. A path through Buchenwald". The trail visits various historical sites, the significance of which is explained by recitations and statements and accompanied by an outdoor exhibition.

The picture shows people in prisoners' clothing shovelling stones and gravel along tracks. The camp gate can be seen through the treetops in the background.

Station 1: Caracho Path

The first inmates of the new Buchenwald concentration camp arrived on Ettersberg Mountain on 15 July 1937. At that point in time, the camp consisted of no more than a few wooden barracks surrounded by dense forest. The inmates had to build the...

The picture is a drawing on yellowed paper. The motif is prisoners walking along one of the camp roads to the roll call area. Three members of a marching band can be seen in the foreground on the right.

Station 2: Muster ground

At sunrise, the inmates had to form up in blocks for morning roll call on the muster ground. The musicians of the camp brass band accompanied the ritual that marked the start of every new day in the concentration camp. After roll call, the labour...

Camp commander Pister (center) and SS men with factory managers of the armaments factory. The men stand in front of a team of horses. In the background a bungalow.

Station 3: Eastern gate, Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke (DAW) armaments factory

In 1940, the SS set up a branch of the Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke (German Armaments Works) in the camp workshops to the east of the inmates’ camp. In the SS-owned factory, hundreds of inmates manufactured products ranging from shell casings to furniture...

On display is a collage of various files from the labour statistics of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Station 4: “Labour statistics” (Block 5) / Memorial stone for women inmates

The inmates assigned to the “labour statistics” department had to organize and manage the labour deployment of the camp inmates on orders from the SS. As the number of Buchenwald subcamps increased from the mid-war years onwards, labour statistics...

You can see an empty barrack with benches in the centre. The picture was taken from the screen. The benches are facing the screen. A projector hangs from the ceiling in a large box from which a cone of light shines forwards.

Station 5: View towards the cinema barrack (Block 26)

Only inmates capable of working had any value for the SS. Sick and emaciated men and boys were sent from the subcamps back to the parent camp on the Ettersberg. Here their lives were in the hands of the SS camp physicians. Jewish as well as Sinti and...