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Zoological Garden

The Buchenwald zoo provided recreational amusement for the SS and encompassed an area bordering the gates of the camp. It bears witness to the extreme contrast between the lives of those belonging to the so-called "Volksgemeinschaft" (people's community) and those excluded.

A hand-carved signpost with the inscription "Zool. Garten Buchenwald" (Zoological Garden), with animal figures above the lettering: a monkey, two bears and a wild boar.
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Carved signpost to the Zoological Garden, 1939. Photo: SS-Foto. ©City Museum Weimar
The camp commander Karl Koch is feeding a fawn from his hand, which apparently has a spacious enclosure with trees at its disposal. At the other hand his son, a small child. The child looks in the other direction, out of the picture.
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Camp commandant Karl Koch with his son in the animal enclosure, 1939. Photo: Private photo of the Koch family. ©National Archives, Washington
The remains of masonry of an enclosure with a rock-like structure in the middle. In front of it is an information sign.
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The remains of the Bärenzwinger were restored in the 1990s, 2022. Photo: Lukas Severin Damm. ©Buchenwald Memorial

In 1938 the camp commander had a zoo built in close proximity to the camp with the support of the Leipzig Zoo. On view were monkeys, brown bears, and deer. The zoo was financed by forced "donations" from the inmates.

Members of the SS and their families as well as the civilian foremen from the Deutschen Ausrüstungswerke (DAW) used the zoo during their free time and lunch breaks as a leisure area. Postcards printed by the SS advertised the zoo.

The zoo demonstratively placed the well-being of the animals over that of the inmates. Members of the SS were punished for any mistreatment of an animal. This contrast to the mass suffering in the camp was apparently intended. In the early years of the camp, the morgue was situated next to the zoo, alongside the nearby watchtower.

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