©Gedenkstätte Buchenwald
Commemorative Stone for "Political Prisoners from Bulgaria" (1970)
Bulgarian students from Bratislava and from the Dresden Technische Hochschule were held in custody in Buchenwald. They had refused to be recruited for the German Wehrmacht. This memorial in the Bulgarian language dates from 1970.
Commemorative Stone for Victims of the National Socialist Military Judiciary (2001)
On May 15, 2001, the "International Day of Conscientious Objectors," a commemorative stone was dedicated to conscientious objectors and Wehrmacht deserters. More than 100 such inmates were held at the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camps.
Commemorative Stone for Jehovah's Witnesses (2002)
From 1933 onward, the Jehovah's Witnesses, then known as the "Earnest Bible Students," were persecuted by the National Socialists due to their ardent pacifism, and members were held in German concentration camps beginning in the mid 1930s, including some 650 imprisoned in Buchenwald. In the camp they wore purple triangles. By revoking their conscientious objection, they would have been able to gain immediate release, but only a few signed the required "letter of commitment." The inscription refers to this steadfastness: "We must obey God rather than men."
Commemorative Stone for Homosexual Men (2006)
The NS regime sent thousands of homosexual men to concentration camps. Alone in Buchenwald some 650 German homosexuals were held here between 1937 and 1945. Most of them were identified by a pink triangle. One in three perished.
Commemorative Stone for Members of the Allied Airforce
On April 13, 2014 survivors dedicated a commemorative stone for members of the Allied Airforce. In August 1944, at least 169 Allied air force soldiers shot down over France were imprisoned at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. These included 82 U.S. service men, 49 British, 26 Canadians, 9 Australians, 2 New Zealanders, and one Jamaican.
Commemorative Stone for the Spanish Republicans (2015)
On April 11, 2015, family members dedicated a stone to the Spanish Republicans. Some 500 Spaniards were abducted to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Most of them were members of the Republican Army or refugees from the civil war. The first of them, arriving in spring 1941, were called "Red Spaniards" by the SS. The transports from France that arrived beginning in early 1944 increased the number of Spaniards at Buchenwald. At least 39 of them, among them two Spanish Jews, died in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
