Walkthrough of Buchenwald and Weimar
This documentary takes you on a 40-minute walkthrough of the former Buchenwald Concentration Camp, located near Weimar in Thuringia, Germany. Being the largest concentration camp still on German soil, Buchenwald was deeply connected to the surrounding society.
This journey moves through key locations in and around the camp. A full exploration of the site, including the surrounding grounds, typically takes about 2.5 hours visiting time. From there, we transition to Weimar, a city once celebrated as a center of enlightenment, now bearing the weight of its proximity to these horrors. I guide you through a 10-minute tour of the historic city center.
The journey ends with a quiet reflection in Ilm Park, where Goethe once walked.
Link to the Buchenwald Memorial Website.
Link to Weimar Tourism
1. Arrival at Buchenwald (Visitor Center, SS Barracks, Railway Tracks, SS Command Center, Gate House, Garages, Caracho Path)
The walkthrough begins at the Visitor Center, where the scale of Buchenwald becomes apparent. The remains of the SS barracks, railway tracks, and the command center reveal how the camp was administratively and logistically connected to the outside world. We follow the infamous Caracho Path, where prisoners, already weak from transport, were herded into the camp under brutal conditions.
2. Inside the Camp (Main Gate, Roll Call Square, Crematorium, Reflections, Museums, Ostracism and Violence Exhibition, Graveyard and Memorials)
Stepping through the camp’s iron gate, inscribed with Jedem das Seine (To each his own), we enter the Roll Call Square, where prisoners endured hours of forced standing in all weather conditions. The tour moves to the crematorium—an unflinching reminder of the camp’s function as a place of mass death. We pause for reflection before visiting the museum and its exhibition Ostracism and Violence, which highlights the close ties between the camp and local society. The section ends at the graveyard and memorials, where victims are honored today.
Link the the Overview on the Exhibition Ostracism and Violence
Link to the Personal Stories related to Exhibition Ostracism and Violence
Link to the Online Exhibitions of Buchenwald
Link to the Buchenwald Library
3. Outside the Camp (Quarry, Blood Road, GDR Buchenwald Memorial)
Leaving the camp itself, we visit the dog kennels, the quarry, where prisoners were subjected to forced labor under unbearable conditions. The Blood Road, paved by inmates, connects the camp to Weimar—its very existence a symbol of the exploitation that sustained Buchenwald. The section concludes with the imposing GDR-era Buchenwald Memorial, constructed in the 1950s as an ideological monument to antifascism.
4. Weimar: Between Culture and Darkness (Goethehaus, Marktplatz, Hotel Elephant, Historic City Center, Ilm Park)
A short journey from Buchenwald brings us to Weimar. Once the heart of German intellectual life, home to Goethe, Schiller, and the Bauhaus movement, Weimar’s legacy stands in stark contrast to its proximity to Buchenwald. We visit the Goethehaus, Marktplatz, and the historic Hotel Elephant before taking a short walk through the old town. The documentary ends in Ilm Park, where the serenity of nature invites final reflection on the coexistence of cultural brilliance and human cruelty.
This journey is an invitation to witness, to remember, and to reflect on the responsibilities we carry today.
5. About the production
I filmed the documentary on location in Buchenwald and Weimar on January 24th and 25th, 2025. For this project, I stayed overnight at a Boutique Hotel in Weimar, about 90 miles or a 1.5-hour drive from my hometown of Einbeck. The Buchenwald Memorial Site, especially with filming equipment, is only accessible by car.
On the first day, I spent about five hours filming Nazi history and their genocide on the premises of the former concentration camp, as well as the quarry, using my iPhone 12 Pro, a Lavaliere microphone, and a DJI Mimo II, along with my NIKON D750 DSLR for both photography and video.
On January 25th, I filmed this documentary for about two hours on location in Weimar, taking a short walk through the city center, including the Goethehaus, Marktplatz, and the historic streets. Later that day, on my way back, I stopped again at Buchenwald, as it lay along my route. I filmed the Blood Road scene as well as all footage of the GDR-era Buchenwald Memorial, spending another two hours capturing these final elements.
Post-production was completed using Adobe Premiere, with Audacity for audio editing. Most of the music was created with Suno.ai based on my prompts, and all tracks were free for cultural projects. The only piece credited under Creative Commons is J.W.S. Bach Etudes 144.
When I filmed this documentary, I already knew the United States had fallen into the hands of a figure of Germanic descent—one who openly worships the very man responsible for the existence of these concentration camps on German soil. The election of DT and the wave of re-traumatization it triggered in me—his behavior mirroring my mother’s treatment of me—was one of the underlying reasons for making this film. As a German, watching DT and his Germanic cronies rise to power made it clear, even in early October, what America was facing.
This was not a new administration but the return of a regime that echoed the very one that had built and operated Buchenwald.
I would like to thank
and for their encouragement and expressing their willingness to actually watch the finished work. This made it easier for me to finish this project.❤️ If you find this piece meaningful, consider clicking the heart at the top or bottom of the post. It helps others discover this newsletter and brightens my day.
CULTURE HISTORY FILM U.S. POLITICS INTERNATIONAL POLITICS TRAUMA NAZI HISTORY GENOCIDE PSYCHOLOGY DOCUMENTARY
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