Special Camp No. 2 Museum
Low white building is the museum
for Special Camp No. 2
The photograph above shows the Museum which
was built in 1995 at the Buchenwald Memorial
Site to house an exhibition about Special Camp Number 2; the
museum opened in 1997. This photograph was taken from a road
which is outside the former prison enclosure at Buchenwald. In
the foreground you can see two reconstructed fence posts for
the barbed wire fence which ran around the Buchenwald camp, and
in the background, the red-roofed storehouse building which houses
the much larger Buchenwald museum in honor of the Communist who
were imprisoned by the Nazis.
The Special Camp No. 2 museum building was
built into the hillside so that the roof is level with the ground,
as the picture below shows. In the foreground you can see the
ruins of one of the camp buildings, and in the background the
gray roof of the museum building which is level with the grass
behind it. Except for the roof, the museum is not visible from
inside the camp; you have to follow the road that runs around
the outside of the camp to find it.
Flat roof of museum in background
with ruins in foreground
Student visitors walk back from museum
to main part of camp
Although the museum was designed by the Germans
after the fall of Communism, it shows a decided Communist influence.
The interior is done in various shades of gray with steel shelves
that look appropriate for an industrial exhibit in a factory.
As soon as you walk in the door, you see a set of steel shelves
right in front of you. There is no wasted space for a reception
area, and no attendant on duty. The picture below shows the view
from the front door. A student is sitting in front of one of
the displays, copying down information. I observed that the student
visitors to this museum were very serious and paying close attention
to the information presented. There are computers available for
research, but when I was there, the information was only available
in the German language.
Interior of museum taken from the
front door
Very little of the Buchenwald camp was preserved
after the German prisoners were released. Most of the buildings
were torn down. Only a few artifacts were found to be put into
the museum. Everything on display looks as though it was dug
out of the ruins after the destruction of the camp. It also shows
how desperately deprived the prisoners were. There are bits of
combs and carved wooden spoons. There is also a Russian uniform
and rifle on display. A big part of the display is the Communist
propaganda posters which are arranged in booths along the walls,
as shown in the picture below. The second picture below shows
a propaganda poster of Stalin with a caption saying that Stalin
is the best friend of the German people. The overall impression
that I got from the propaganda displayed at both Buchenwald and
Sachsenhausen is that the Communists must have thought that we
had just fallen off the turnip truck, and weren't sophisticated
enough to be able to discern the truth.
Communist propaganda posters in booths
along the walls
J.W. Stalin, the best friend of the
German people
Booths along the wall for Communist
posters and computers
The exhibits are divided into four sections:
1. The Soviet Special Camps and the end of the war. 2. Structures
and function of Buchenwald Special Camp. 3. Life and Death in
Buchenwald Special Camp and 4. The End of the Special Camps.
Biographical information about some of the
victims is displayed in glass-topped steel cases, as shown in
the picture below. One of the inmates was a German movie star
whose pictures show how her beauty deteriorated in the camp.
Below the glass is a series of pull out trays with more pictures
and text. The whole setup is designed for efficiency and maximum
use of space. The museum is not what you would call lavish. It
is like a poor man's version of the glitzy Buchenwald museum
for the Communist victims of the Nazis. The rule of warfare is
that the winners get to write the history; the winners also get
to build the biggest monuments and the best museums.
Steel and glass display cases have
biographies of the victims
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