German Killing & Atrocity Centers

Buchenwald, one of the most feared of German Concentration Camps, was a prison before being adopted into the 4 first Camps of Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Flossenberg. Founded between July and August of 1937, it became a concentration camp in 1938 following "Krystallnacht" and the deportation of the "November Jews". (see Krystallnacht )The first deportation included over 10,000 Jewish men, added to the political prisoners and others. Buchenwald had 87 subcamps, and Buchenwald and the other camps were noted for stone quarry slavery, slavery in the the armaments and equipment industries, and for brutal medical experimentation with induced disease processes. Towards the end of the war, women were incarcerated there. Located outside Weimar, near the Ettersberg Mountain, the road leading into the camp was called "The Road of Blood". "The cruelty of the camp was well-known; over 600 of the November Jews died in the first few months: by the end of the war, there were over 110,000 prisoners, and over 60,000 deaths. Deaths were by shootings, hangings, and phenol injections¹ The infirm according to USHMM were sent to lesser camps which were euphemistcally called "Euthanasia" centers, but were really gassing centers and krema.

Among the more bizarre cruelties that Buchenwald is noted for are 'head-shrinking' of prisoners and the used of human skin, particularly tattooed skin for the use in making household items such as book covers and lamp shades. Buchenwald was liberated in 1945 in April, five months after the liberation of Auschwitz. US Newscaster, Edward R. Murrow commented in horror on the events. .