©Buchenwald Memorial
The Commemorative Buchenwald Railway Path has been in existence since 2007. The exposure of the historical railway line was possible only with the help of volunteers from Weimar and numerous international study and work camp participants.
A guide can accompany the approximately one-hour hike if desired. Beginning at the former timber loading yard, participants set out on a historical search for traces. From 1944 onwards, extermination transports left the Buchenwald station carrying children and adolescents who were too young or too weak to work. The SS sent especially Jewish adolescents and Sinti and Roma on death trains to Auschwitz. What is more, young men and women from the occupied territories were transported by train to the Buchenwald subcamps to perform forced labour. Many of them died as a consequence of the living and working conditions there.
There are no longer many historical traces of the events on the commemorative path itself. In view of that circumstance, the work of the "Commemorative Buchenwald Railway Path" initiative and the commemorative stones created for the adolescent and child deportees are all the more meaningful.
More than 320 names have meanwhile been engraved in commemorative stones and placed along the path. The project will continue until there is a stone to commemorate every deported child and every deported adolescent.
The multi-day projects can also include participation in the ongoing work of this growing participatory monument. Let us know if you are interested!
