Sometimes the contrast could not be bigger

My book reading tour continues, and on the way from Datteln in the Ruhr Area to Dresden in the East of Germany, I chose my stopover halfway along the route in Weimar to visit Buchenwald.

I took part in a two-hour guided tour through the camp and noticed that also many young people and teenager groups visited this place. During the tour, I learned that Buchenwald, which was one of the largest concentration camps, was fully built by the prisoners. People from more than fifty countries were held here, and more than 56,000 people died during that time. It was oppressive to learn in how many different ways people can die and how badly they were treated.

After the tour, I had some minutes to interview the guide. He told me of his experiences that visitors are often not aware of the fact that apart from Jewish people, other groups were held here, such as political opponents, prisoners of war, criminals and people who did not conform to the social norms of the regime.

Buchenwald is located on a hill and surrounded by forest in order to be isolated, also because the regime did not want the population to be aware of the systematic crimes happening inside. Therefore, many people did not know about them. However, many knew about the existence of the camp, which also served as a warning by showing that anyone who resisted would be imprisoned there. There were administrative, cultural and economic connections with locals, and even if people heard rumours, it was dangerous to talk about them and share information due to the risk to be jailed. This illustrates how much fear and misinformation prevailed under the dictatorship.

What is it like to live next to Buchenwald today?, I wondered and asked a woman who lives nearby. 

“We don’t think about it every day”, she said, “but we are aware of the fact that something terrible happened here. We often hike up the mountain, and when you are on the railway embankment – especially in November when it is foggy –, it makes you think.” 

She also told me that she developed a specific awareness in her everyday life. In stressful times, she reminds herself to calm down and be tough because there were people who endured much worse situations.

Weimar is located in the immediate vicinity – an important cultural city known for its literature, music and architecture. Poets like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller lived and wrote here. I realised this contrast when I dealt with the dark part of history in the morning and visited this culturally meaningful city in the afternoon. It reminded me of the fact that it can happen anywhere, and that it is important to remember this.