A Camp for the War Economy - Buchenwald Memorial

The flat factory hall is separately fenced. A car is parked next to the gate. The factory hall looks modularly built and has 11 triangular roof structures in a row. — 1/3

View of a factory hall of Gustloff-Werke II, 1943. Photo: Recognition Service of Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

©Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation, Besançon

Prisoners in striped clothing laying tracks on an embankment made of earth with simple tools. In the background, SS members supervise the construction. — 2/3

Prisoners laying tracks to Buchenwald, spring 1943. Photo: Zentralbauleitung der Waffen-SS.

©Thuringian Main State Archives in Weimar

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. — 3/3

Camp commandant Pister (centre), his adjutant Schmidt (left) and factory manager of the armaments factory in Buchenwald, 1943. Photo: Recognition Service of the SS.

©Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation, Besançon

Beginning in 1943, the SS geared the operation of the concentration camp more intensively towards the interests of the German war economy. For this purpose, there was a change in the camp leadership. Hermann Pister replaced Karl Otto Koch as camp commander. Next to the camp, on the road to Weimar, the SS had an armament factory constructed, which went into operation in the spring of 1943. Thousands of inmates had to work for the Weimar weapons firm Wilhelm-Gustloff-Werke. That same year, Buchenwald received a train station, providing rail access to the arms factory and the camp. In just three months, inmates had to build the ten-kilometre rail line, performing extremely hard labour. The Buchenwald rail line was operated by Bachstein GmbH, a private rail company from Berlin.