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Site of Mourning Special Camp No. 2

A high cross marks an open area of mourning, where church services and memorial ceremonies are held in remembrance of those who perished in the special camp.

In the foreground of the picture one of the steel stelae. Behind it the wooden cross. Memorial candles were placed in front of the cross.
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Cross at the place of mourning for the dead of special camp no. 2. Photo: Claus Bach. ©Buchenwald Memorial
Memorial plate with the inscription "To the dead of the Soviet Special Camp".
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Commemorative plaque with the inscription "To the dead of the Soviet special camp", 2022. Photo: Luklas Severin Damm.
©Buchenwald Memorial

Hardly any traces of the Soviet special camp dating from 1945–1950 have been preserved in the camp complex. The most visible signs of its existence are the collective graves, which were turned into a forest cemetery in 1995. In 1997 an exhibition on the history of the Soviet Special Camp No. 2 was opened in the camp complex. Inside the museum, at the location where the book of the dead listing all the names of deceased is on display, there is a window in the cement wall providing a direct view of the area of mourning.

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