SS Falconry - Buchenwald Memorial

The falconer, SS-Scharführer Horst Mauersberger, during a demonstration of a golden eagle at Falkenhof Buchenwald. The bird is sitting on the falconer's glove and has spread its wings. In the background the chimney hall. — 1/3

The SS falconer at a presentation of a golden eagle. 1939. Photo: SS Photography.

©City Museum Weimar

A tall half-timbered building stands between trees, surrounded by an opaque wooden fence. On the left side of the fence is a hawk post. — 2/3

Falconer's house, in which French government members, including Edouard Daladier and Leon Blum, were imprisoned from 1943, after April 11, 1945. Photo: Alfred Stüber.

©Private collection

Moss-covered foundation wall remains surrounded by trees. — 3/3

Remains of the chimney hall, 2011. Photo: Katharina Brand.

©Buchenwald Memorial

Situated some 500 metres from the prison camp, a falconry served a representational purpose for the SS. Based on the Reichs Falconry of Hermann Göring in Braunschweig, it encompassed an eagle house, seven large cages, a grand hall for hunting parties with a fireplace built in the old German style, and living quarters for the attending falconers. Animals including deer, wild boar, and pheasants were kept in additional enclosures. The falconry was open to the general public on Sundays, starting in 1940. Members of the SS offered tours on the hour.

Between 1943 and 1945, former members of the French government were interred at the falconer's lodge. Imprisoned here for both extended and brief periods of time were the former minister presidents Léon Blum, Édouard Daladier, and Paul Reynaud, cabinet minister Georges Mandel and the last commander of the French forces, General Maurice Gamelin.

After 1945 the falconry was torn down. Today only remnants of the foundation are visible. The falconer's lodge was rebuilt as a residence in the village of Ulla in the countryside surrounding Weimar.