What I saw at Weimar: a nazi scum story
The heartbeat of the nazi regime was located in Weimar in Deutschland (what we call "Germany"). This is what I learned, felt, saw, read, and heard.
Time travel back with me to 2016.
Maybe sometime I will share photographs of the 5-week trip across Eastern Europe that my German best friend and I took. But for now, I hope these words will suffice.
I am with Lukas (“L”) who had become my best friend. He was a lot younger than me, but he is quite literally MUCH more intelligent than I am. He is multi-lingual, and well-traveled. He was on break from his advanced Uni program. Nothing romantic between us: Zero Percent. And so, we were AWESOME travel companions. We NEVER stayed inside. We ALWAYS were out on an adventure.
L and I traveled mostly by train and bus. Otherwise, we put our shoes to “good use”. At some point on our trip, we discussed visiting a holocaust site once reaching Germany. L had never been to one, and as someone from the US in Europe for the first time, neither had I. Now that we were in Germany, unfortunately, there were several holocaust sites to choose from. We talked about Weimar, and decided to go.
Just prior to WW2, Weimar is the hotbed of nazi evil.
Quite literally, it is the city where “the shitler” and his cronies first overtook the government in -quite literally- overnight lawmaking sessions. And when all the nice people in town woke-up the next morning - quite literally - they were ALL WAY FUCKED.
That previous year, the youth of the area had been indoctrinated into nazism by the elders. Would you believe, that the sleek black uniforms which were so in-fashion, were a “draw” to the youth? Recruitment is easier if you help the kids look posh, is how the history books record the fascist strategy.
Weimar is a city in central Germany. It's known as the birthplace of Weimar Classicism, a humanistic cultural movement. The Goethe & Schiller Monument in front of the German National Theater celebrates the 2 writers, who lived in the city. Goethe's baroque residence is now the Goethe National Museum. The Schiller Museum is adjacent to the writer's home. Bauhaus Museum Weimar has works by architect Walter Gropius. ― Google
Before taking a bus to the nazi internment camp holocaust site, we visited the picturesque city of Weimar. By the time we made it to the city, the cold rains had started. Undeterred, we walked around and took-in how normal everything looked. L started telling me what he knew about the area. His mood was off, and he was unhappy, which was not like him. After a few hours, we decided to buy our bus tickets to Buchenwald Memorial, for what we already knew would be a horrible experience.
CLICK HERE for the Buchenwald Memorial website.
Buchenwald (German pronunciation: [ˈbuːxn̩valt]; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territories. Many actual or suspected communists were among the first internees.
Prisoners came from all over Europe and the Soviet Union, and included Jews, Poles, and other Slavs, the mentally ill, and physically disabled, political prisoners, Roma, Freemasons, and prisoners of war. There were also ordinary criminals and those perceived as sexual deviants by the Nazi regime. All prisoners worked primarily as forced labor in local armaments factories. The insufficient food and poor conditions, as well as deliberate executions, led to 56,545 deaths at Buchenwald of the 280,000 prisoners who passed through the camp and its 139 subcamps.[1]
Please know that you can also CLICK HERE to read the Buchenwald Wikipedia page, which is about as “scrubbed” for public consumption as you can get. Although warning: it is still horrendous to read through.
Bus tickets in-hand, we had one hour to wait.
It started to get Very Fucking Cold as you might imagine Europe could become. But we each had proper clothing, and nothing was going to stop us that day. We ducked into the closest cafe to our bus stop, for warm beverages and shelter from the increasing cold.
Sitting next to us at one of the tiny round tables just big enough for a pastry and coffee, was a very ugly old man reading a newspaper and commenting to a woman seated with him. This must have been his wife. His (less ugly) wife had her hair pinned-up tight, and I recall thinking that these old folks looked quite German to me. (But, what did I know?)
The cafe was filled with all white people, and so we fit in perfectly without being noticed. That is, until L became visibly irritated. The ugly old man was speaking in Deutsch (“German”). L shot the man the meanest glances which I had ever seen him give anybody. I had never actually seen him look so cross. After a few moments, L told me that the man was reading a section of the paper where a Black man was being celebrated. To which this particular ugly old man was commenting, and openly saying racist things about the Black man. L was so pissed at this ugly old man, and he tried to ignore him without making a scene. But, our remaining time inside the cafe was quite uncomfortable.
We were outside waiting for the bus, which was only a few minutes from arriving. With the cold starting to sting my nose, my mind was running in a circle; at dis-ease, recalling some of the details L had told me about the city of Weimar.
While we had walked around Weimar earlier in the day, L had opened-up to me about his family’s shame. One of L’s grandfathers was a nazi; who even after the war had ended, refused to rebuke his loyalty to “the shitler”. This unholy obstinance ripped L’s family into two pieces. And although L was young, as he told me about this, he looked aged and forever spiritually distressed.
During our entire trip, L only “snapped” at me once. He had used a sharp tone with me, but had done so only after I asked him something, which seemed very stupid to him. He had been telling me that the local peoples of Weimar and surrounding towns found themselves answering knocks at the door, which changed the lives of the families inside their homes.
If your family heard a knock at the door, and if you answered the door, you had better be prepared to answer some questions from the nazis standing on your doorstep. They would be asking for the men/boys of the house. As the men/boys of the house, you were to be asked, “Are you loyal to “the shitler”?”
And if you said no… you were taken right then and there. Disappeared forcibly. Perhaps you’d simply be beaten and enrolled in the nazi military, if otherwise you were taken somewhere and tortured, and perhaps nixed.
I had asked L, “But L, what if you did not WANT to go with the nazis. What then?!”
His LOUD reply chilled me: “ALISHA!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN??
YOU COULD NOT SAY NO!!”
I chose to shut the F up for a while after that. “Damnit, I am an idiot,” I thought. I knew now for sure that my friend was hurting inside. I had made the moment worse.
Our winter bus to Buchenwald arrived.
We handed our tickets to the driver, and boarded. There were only a few others on-board who were going to Buchenwald. The winter weather was not tourist weather, and for that reason, I recall that that ride seemed long and lonely. The rain turned to sleet on the way there. As the bus finally stopped in front of the site, there was snow on the ground.
And as the next hours unfolded, I was of course entirely unprepared to see and experience what was in front of me. I recall that my entire body instantly “felt” unhappy and deeply unwell. The freezing cold became THE SPIRITUAL THEME.
Buchenwald had been operated by Schutzstaffel. The Commandants during the evil times were Karl-Otto Koch (1 August 1937 – July 1941), and Hermann Pister (1942–1945). The “concentration camp” was operational from 15 July 1937 – 11 April 1945. The number of inmates “processed” at Buchenwald numbered 280,000. Many died from unnatural causes such as starvation and elements. 56,545 were bold-face murdered.
“….approximately one in three inmates died on the march or was shot to death by members of the SS, the Volkssturm ("People’s Militia") or the Hitler Youth.”
Cutting to the Gist
For this moment with you now, I am only going to write and share the scenes and thoughts which matter to the NOW. (I apologize for skipping around, but these moments at Buchenwald are still too real and raw for me to completely share.)
CLICK HERE to see the map of Buchenwald Memorial.
Demolition of the concentration camp site occurred about 5-years after liberation. At the time of liberation, 48,000 people were - quite literally - STUFFED into the buildings on-site.
I recall the thick walls and metal bars at the front gate:
This gate house entrance was one of the last areas we visited while at Buchenwald Memorial. This gate house is on the outer edges, furthest away from where the bus had dropped us off. At Buchenwald Memorial today, the gate house is one of the only outer structures that remains in-tact.
“The structure of the entry gate formed the main watchtower of a total of 23 towers, and it was the only permitted entry and exit point to the camp. Often beatings, kicks, and whippings accompanied the labour detachments of inmates leaving and entering the camp in rows of five. During the time the camp was in use, a beam spanning the passageway bore the writing "Justice or Injustice—My Fatherland" on the side facing the SS.”
The words on the gate represent the exclusion of those who did not belong to the community of National Socialism, that is all those who did not belong to the propagandized notion of the "Volksgemeinschaft" (people's community).
All announcements made by the SS were broadcast over the loudspeaker at the gate building. The upper platform of this structure with its floodlights offered a view of the entire camp, especially roll call square. It served as a viewing platform during visits by official delegations.
You can CLICK HERE to see the source photos and information about the front gate. as shown in the screenshot above.
Note: Volkswagen company became a nazi vehicle manufacturer. If you have a “VW”, maybe you won’t feel proud about driving it around anymore.
The Fking “bunk beds”:
Long buildings were built; segmented by thick walls and doorways. Inside, there were “bunk beds” that would fit children. If you wanted to lay down, you would -quite literally- lay on wooden “beds” without mattresses or blankets. These “beds” were not long enough for any adult human body. Your head or feet would be off the edge of the wood platform. One “bed” would “sleep” over one dozen people. No one slept well, ever. EVER.
The Fking ovens:
I am in a way grateful they left the actual ovens in-place. I had only read about them during history class. I stood mere yards away from these evil tools. The heavy steel doors to the ovens would swing “wide open”, and they had a industrial latch on the front, to close them for the evil deed. Often times, those people entering the ovens were already deceased. Other times, they were left partially-alive or injured, and forced inside. I will never forget the depth of the ovens, and learning how many people were -quite literally- obliterated and evaporated in there.
The Fking shower room gas chambers:
The building holding the “showers” had a receiving room. Many times, people were lined up and told they were going to be measured and weighed. Then once they were all standing against the wall, they were shot in the head.
If you were not shot in the head, you were told to take-off your clothes. As a prisoner of war, you were not allowed to have any shoes. Once fully naked, you would be walked to the next building over which was a giant room, where lines of what looked like shower heads lined the long walls. And when the room was full of naked people, the doors would be shut and the gas turned on, and you screamed and choked to death as your body was chemically burned alive.
The Heartfelt Arts and Crafts:
At Buchenwald Memorial, a “memorial history exhibition” building was later erected and is now filled with the actual items found on-site inside the prisoners’ living quarters.
Here is what I saw: While prisoners were held starving and freezing to death, before the nazi scum decided the prisoners’ lifetimes were over, the prisoners tried to keep their minds off the hunger and cold. To do this, the prisoners used some of the most beautiful human ingenuity I’ve ever seen. The prisoners would take anything they could find: scraps of paper, pieces of burnt wood, scraps of metal, leaves from the outdoors, scraps of their clothing, and even their own hair.
And with these meager materials, they would make art, and figurines, and games. They would make items to help them recall and celebrate their families, their favorite songs and books, sports, and places. Some of the women would make anything to help them feel beautiful and feminine. Hair bows, paper bracelets and the like.
(Note: FCK ME, I AM CRYING RIGHT NOW WRITING THIS. SO BRUTAL.)
The Fking freezing cold:
As L and I walked around for hours, we froze in the snowy cold. And neither of us made one comment about it. While on-site, I could not help but A SINGLE THOUGHT LOOP was happening over and over in my mind. It went something like this:
"I feel so cold right now. Fck, I am freezing cold, and cannot feel my feet, nose or ears. Even my hair is cold. And guess what? I am wearing a winter coat, with 3 layers underneath, gloves, winter socks, and a hat. The prisoners had nothing to keep them warm, but each other, and sometimes a meager fire, if the guards would give them somethings to burn as fuel. Fck, I am such a privileged asshole. I will never complain about the cold, again. Damnit, it feels so cold right now…”
The Fking nazi scum printed propaganda:
This is the part for me that - in 2016 - really brought me back to presence. Near the end of our Buchenwald site visit, we spent time - literally defrosting - inside the museum building which I mentioned a moment ago.
In cases behind clear glass, I saw dozens of the actual nazi scum propaganda, which had been printed with designer flair and in-color on pamphlets and flyers, and posted everywhere on-site for prisoners to read and memorize.
In 2016, donald john trump had been campaigning for u.s. president. At the time of my Buchenwald Memorial visit, it was almost election time. As I carefully read-through the nazi scum propaganda, my heart sank to the bottom of my soul. I hated my eyes for what I was reading.
trump’s rhetoric - QUITE LITERALLY TO THE WORD - matched the nazi scum propaganda. QUITE LITERALLY TO THE WORD, JUST THE WEEK PRIOR, donald j trump had said the EXACT SAME WORDS that the nazi scum had used in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
I was unsure if my eyes were deceiving me. I left the case and went to find L. I asked L to come over to the case where I had been standing to “see something”. He quietly followed me. We reached the case. He read one of the pamphlets I pointed to. With any energy I had left, I asked L if he had, “…heard trump say “those things”?”
L nodded his head, “Yes.” It was at this point which I realized that, neither of us had any words left.
Looking in the mirror
The last “thing” I did at Buchenwald Memorial before leaving back to the bus stop, was visit the women’s restroom. I recall there was a heater in there, and for a brief moment I felt human again. After flushing the Buchenwald toilet - quite literally a luxury that none of the prisoners ever had - I buttoned my pants, and buttoned my jacket again.
(Note: FCK, I AM STILL CRYING RN.)
I stepped to the sink, and then saw HER. This woman, who was ME, looked like ABSOLUTE SHYTE. I had not seen my reflection in many hours. While at Buchenwald, there had been no reflective glass for me to notice myself. But once I saw myself, I sobbed. I looked like a completely different person. I was so sad and miserable looking.
New dark thoughts circled me again, but this time they went something like this:
"I have everything. I have a winter coat, with 3 layers underneath, gloves, winter socks, and a hat. The prisoners had nothing but each other. I look dead inside. But I am alive! I cannot believe I am alive, and about to walk out of here alive.”
Little known facts
Did you know? Buchenwald was used for murder even after the nazis were stopped. Sadly, it was used by our allies to kill our mutual enemies. We allowed our allies to use the nazi site, to keep killing. After the 1945 “liberation day” by the americans, 6,000 more people were transported to Buchenwald.
Most of the men were between 40 and 60 years old, and over half of them had been local NSDAP functionaries (block and cell leaders). A number of them had been members of the police, Gestapo, or SS. In addition, numerous people were arrested who had not held any responsibilities within the NS regime in the time before 1945. There were some 1,000 women in the camp, and with them were five children under three years of age.
It was called “Soviet Special Camp 2”. CLICK HERE to read about it.
The takeaway
There is no takeaway. The reality is that, if you hate murder, you will need to help stop donald john trump. The united states is falling. We are the enemy of the world now. There are no liberators for us, except each other.
This photo above shows prisoners about to be hung. They were all Polish, and they had tried to revolt against the nazi scum commandant; hurting guards in the process.