Thälmann Memorial Plaque - Buchenwald Memorial

Three soldiers of the NVA salute around a wreath laid in front of the memorial plaque for Ernst Thälmann — 1/3

Crematorium courtyard, inauguration event of the national memorial site in Buchenwald, 1958. Photo: Ernst Schäfer.

©Buchenwald Memorial

Memorial plaque on the outside wall of the crematorium of the Buchenwald Memorial. The text reads: Eternal glory to the son of the German people, the leader of the German working class Ernst Thälmann, who was murdered by fascism on this spot on August 18, 1944. — 2/3

Memorial plaque for Ernst Thählmann, who was murdered in the crematorium. Photo: Claus Bach, 2012.

©Buchenwald Memorial

A fire bowl can be seen in front of the Ernst Thälmann memorial plaque, which is being lit by an older man in a black suit. Another man is holding a microphone for him. Behind him are other participants in the event. Two young people stand behind the fire bowl and hold torches. — 3/3

Lighting the fire of the GDR Children's and Youth Spartacus Games in front of the Ernst Thälmann memorial plaque, 1980s. Photo: Ernst Schäfer.

©Buchenwald Memorial

Ernst Thälmann was brought to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in the night of August 17 to 18, 1944 from a prison in Bautzen and was shot by members of the SS upon entering the crematorium. Commemorating his death was fundamental to the design of the memorial site. In 1951 a "Memorial Planning Committee" wrote: "The crematorium should be the focal point of the camp, in which the yard of the crematorium should be surrounded by an artistically designed wall, in the intersection of which a monument should be installed to Ernst Thälmann."

The commemorative plaque, which still exists today, dates from 1953 and was the first to be installed in the area of the inmates' camp. During the GDR period the visitor flow into the crematorium was intentionally directed through the back door, the route by which Thälmann had entered the building.

Even if the memorialization of Ernst Thälmann was a focal point of the memory cultivated around Buchenwald, the original plan for a more extensive redesign of the site was never carried out. Historical preservationists and museum experts of the GDR strongly advocated for retaining the "authentic atmosphere" of the crematorium.