Soviet Special Camp No. 2 Buchenwald (1945-1950) - History and Post-History
Between 1945 and 1950, 28,500 people were interned in Soviet Special Camp No. 2 for various reasons. The majority of them were members of the NSDAP who had held important positions within the party and the Nazi regime. A smaller number were suspected of fighting against the Soviet occupying forces.
7,113 people died in the Special Camp as a result of hunger, diseases and isolation. Their deaths were concealed, and their relatives were not informed.
In the GDR (East Germany), the Soviet Special Camps were a taboo subject. In the Federal Republic (West Germany), meanwhile, they were often invoked to relativize Nazi crimes.
In 1990, after the dissolution of the GDR, historians began researching the Special Camps for the first time. From then on, the inmates of Special Camp No. 2 were commemorated at the Buchenwald Memorial.
The Exhibition Building in the Buchenwald Memorial: The Former Soviet Administration Barracks
The building was constructed between 1948 and 1950. Together with the former camp headquarters, it housed the camp director and the units responsible for record-keeping, provisions, defence, and order. In the GDR, the building was mistakenly identified as the “Political Department” of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, which had been destroyed in 1944. This is the only building constructed during the time of the Soviet Special Camp No. 2 which has been preserved.
