Memorial to all the dead of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp

A week after their liberation, the surviving inmates gathered at roll call square on April 19, 1945, to honour the memory of their deceased comrades and to thank the Allied troops. At the end of the memorial service, they pledged the "Oath of Buchenwald." Today, at the location where they had erected a wooden obelisk, is the memorial for all the dead of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The memorial was consecrated on the 50th anniversary of the camp's liberation in 1995.

The silver square memorial plate placed on the ground. In front of the plate is a flower arrangement. In the background you can see the gate building. — 1/2

The memorial on the roll call square is located between the gate building and the former prisoner canteen, 2012. Photo: Katharina Brand. ©Buchenwald Memorial

A group of young visitors with their guide touching the memorial plaque at Appellplatz. — 2/2

The memorial plaque on the roll call square is continuously heated to 36.5 degrees, 2022. Photo: Lukas Severin Damm. ©Buchenwald Memorial

A metal slab set into the ground marks the site of the obelisk. It is engraved with the acronym "K. L. B." (standing for "Konzentrationslager Buchenwald"), along with the names of more than 50 nations and groups of people who claim victims of Buchenwald. Four steel corners indicate the dimensions of the obelisk.

The memorial was designed and installed by artists Horst Hoheisel and Andreas Knitz. They called it the "memorial as a memory of a memory." One unique aspect of the monument is not readily visible: the middle of the commemorative slab set into the ground is constantly heated to human body temperature (36.5 degrees Celsius), as a symbol for that which unites all those, whom the National Socialists deemed unworthy of life: their humanity.

The International Committee Buchenwald-Dora and Commandos (IBDC) holds a memorial ceremony every year in April for all the dead of the camp.