Nachbar Buchenwald: Die Stadt Weimar Und Ihr Konzentrationslager 1937-1945 (german Edition)

Jens Schley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 185-191). Examines whether the inhabitants of Weimar were aware of what was happenning in the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1937-45; reports on a visit to the camp on 15 April 1945, arranged by the American occupation authorities for residents of Weimar four days after the liberation of the camp. From the beginning of 1945 transports arrived in Buchenwald almost every day from evacuated concentration and extermination camps. During the first three months of 1945, 14,000 prisoners died as a result of the degenerate living conditions in the camp. On 7 April 1945, when the evacuation of Buchenwald began, 48,000 persons were imprisoned there. 28,000 of them died during transportation or were shot by the SS. On 11 April 1945, 21,000 prisoners remained in Buchenwald. Claims that the inhabitants of Weimar, instead of coping with their own liability and involvement, reacted with silence, denial, and repression of personal responsibility. Argues that there had been economic, administrative, and social relations between the camp and the town of Weimar. Mentions only a few acts of assistance for the prisoners or resistance against the terror of the SS. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)