At the orders of SS-leader Himmler, the SS had a 10-km rail line constructed in the spring of 1943, which connected the Buchenwald Concentration Camp with the city of Weimar.
The rails ran parallel to the "Blood Road" and were originally intended to supply the new armament factory in Buchenwald. Only three months were planned for the construction. To comply with this unrealistic timeline, the SS drove the inmates with utter ruthlessness. At the time of the opening ceremony in June 1943, the route was in a provisional state and was under construction for an additional six months thereafter.
The line did not go into regular use until the spring of 1944. In addition to freight trains and regularly scheduled passenger trains, transports also ran on the newly connected line. Mass transports with detainees from all throughout Europe used the "Buchenwald Line" as did trains carrying inmates no longer fit for work to Auschwitz. The line was operated by a private railroad company, Bachstein GmbH, which earned money on every wagon crossing this route.
Today the tracks of the former rail line form the
