Buchenwald was the Nazi concentration camp established in 1937 near Weimar, Germany. The camp was built on the Ettersberg hill and became one of the largest concentration camps within Germany’s prewar borders.
The SS imprisoned Jews, political opponents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma, prisoners of war, and many other targeted groups there. Prisoners were subjected to forced labor, starvation, disease, violence, and murder. The camp’s satellite network supplied labor to German armaments production and other industries.
Buchenwald is sometimes confused with Dachau, which opened in 1933 near Munich and was the first regular Nazi concentration camp. Buchenwald was liberated by United States forces on 11 April 1945. The camp’s memorial site preserves surviving buildings and documents about the prisoners and the crimes committed there.