Political Division - Buchenwald Memorial

Two prisoners at archival work in the office of the recognition service photographed diagonally from behind. On the right, presumably the prisoner Karl Siebeneichler dressed in white. On the left, another prisoner dressed in black. — 1/2

Photo department of the identification service in the barracks of the political department, 1943. Photo: Identification service of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

©Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation, Besançon

View of the parking lot of the memorial. Next to it the former SS barracks buildings, which are now used by the memorial. — 2/2

The Political Department was destroyed in 1944 as a result of an Allied air raid. Today an information board indicates its former location, 2022. Photo: Alexander John Bolton.

©Buchenwald Memorial

Upon arrival at the camp, inmates were registered in the wooden barracks of the "Political Division." Often those who were brought to the camp ended up standing on the Caracho Path for hours and were then photographed in the building, and their identifying characteristics were recorded.

The "Political Division" was overseen by the central office of the Gestapo in Weimar, which was responsible for Buchenwald. It monitored the interactions among inmates through a network of informants and spies. During interrogations they tortured inmates both in the detention cells at the camp gate and in the rooms of the "Political Division."

The Gestapo barracks were destroyed in the Allied air raid on the armament factory and SS complex on August 24, 1944, whereby almost all the inmates' records and Gestapo photos were destroyed by fire.