Editing Buchenwald concentration camp (section)

==Aftermath==
[[File:Ilse Koch testifies in her own defense 8 jul 47.png|thumb|Ilse Koch testifies]]

===Buchenwald trial===
{{main|Buchenwald trial}}
Thirty SS perpetrators at Buchenwald were tried before a US military tribunal in 1947, including [[Higher SS and Police Leader]] [[Josias Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont]], who oversaw the SS district that Buchenwald was located in, and many of the doctors responsible for Nazi human experimentation. Almost all of the defendants were convicted, and 22 were sentenced to death. However, only nine death sentences were carried out, and by the mid-1950s, all perpetrators had been freed except for [[Ilse Koch]], who was tried by a [[West Germany|West German]] court and given a life sentence. Additional perpetrators were tried before German courts during the 1960s.{{sfn|Zegenhagen|2009|pp=293–294}}

===The site===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0311-0302-001, Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Mahnmal, Winter.jpg|thumb|Buchenwald memorial by [[Fritz Cremer]]]]
Between August 1945 and 1 March 1950, Buchenwald was the site of [[NKVD special camp Nr. 2]], where the [[NKVD|Soviet secret police]] imprisoned former Nazis and anti-communist dissidents.{{sfn|Marcuse|2010|p=190}} According to Soviet records, 28,455 people were detained, 7,113 of whom died. After the NKVD camp closed, much of the camp was razed, while signs were erected to provide a Soviet interpretation of the camp's legacy.{{sfn|Marcuse|2010|p=200}} The first monument to victims was erected by Buchenwald inmates days after the initial liberation. It was made of wood and only intended to be temporary. A second monument to commemorate the dead was erected in 1958 by the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] (GDR) government near the mass graves. It was inaugurated on 14 September 1958 by GDR Prime Minister [[Otto Grotewohl]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Overesch |first=Manfred |title=Buchenwald und die DDR oder Die Suche nach Selbstlegitimation |year=1995 |location=Göttingen |pages=325–326}}</ref> Inside the camp, there is a stainless steel monument on the spot where the first, temporary monument stood. Its surface is maintained at {{convert|37|C|F}}, the temperature of human skin, all year round.<ref>{{cite book|last=Young|first=James E.|title=At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture|place=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2000|page=105}}</ref><ref name="cbsnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-visits-buchenwald-concentration-camp/|title=Obama Visits Buchenwald Concentration Camp|website=[[CBS News]]|date=5 June 2009 }}</ref>

The three National Memorials of the GDR, built next to or on the sites of the former concentration camps Buchenwald, [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp|Sachsenhausen]], and [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|Ravensbrück]], played a central role in the GDR's remembrance policy under [[Erich Honecker]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tillack-Graf |first=Anne-Kathleen |title=Erinnerungspolitik der DDR. Dargestellt an der Berichterstattung der Tageszeitung "Neues Deutschland" über die Nationalen Mahn- und Gedenkstätten Buchenwald, Ravensbrück und Sachsenhausen |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2012 |isbn=978-3-631-63678-7 |location=Frankfurt am Main |pages=94}}</ref> They were controlled by the Ministry of Culture and thus by the government. According to their statute, these memorials served as places of identification and legitimisation of the GDR.<ref>''Gesetzblatt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik vom 4. September 1961'', Teil II, Nr. 61.</ref> The political instrumentalisation of these memorials, especially for the current needs of the GDR, became particularly clear during the major celebrations of the liberation of the concentration camps, as historian Anne-Kathleen Tillack-Graf analysis in her thesis about the official party newspaper {{lang|de|[[Neues Deutschland]]}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tillack-Graf |first=Anne-Kathleen |title=Erinnerungspolitik der DDR. Dargestellt an der Berichterstattung der Tageszeitung "Neues Deutschland" über die Nationalen Mahn- und Gedenkstätten Buchenwald, Ravensbrück und Sachsenhausen |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2012 |isbn=978-3-631-63678-7 |location=Frankfurt am Main |pages=2–3, 88–91 |language=}}</ref>

Today the Buchenwald camp site serves as a Holocaust memorial. It has a museum with permanent exhibitions about the history of the camp. It is managed by Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, which also looks after the camp memorial at [[Mittelbau-Dora]].<ref name="Foundation">{{cite web |title= Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation – Purpose of the Foundation |url= http://www.buchenwald.de/english/index.php?p=stiftungszweck |publisher= Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation |access-date= 18 August 2012 |archive-date= 4 March 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120304210835/http://www.buchenwald.de/english/index.php?p=stiftungszweck |url-status= dead }}</ref>

===Literature===
[[Image:Buchenwald Slave Laborers Liberation.jpg|thumb|Slave laborers at Buchenwald after liberation in 1945. Elie Wiesel is seen in the second row, seventh from left.]]
Survivors who have written about their camp experiences include [[Jorge Semprún]], who in ''Quel beau dimanche!'' describes conversations involving [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] and [[Léon Blum]], and [[Ernst Wiechert]], whose ''Der Totenwald'' was written in 1939 but not published until 1945, and which likewise involved Goethe. Scholars have investigated how camp inmates used art to help deal with their circumstances, and according to [[Theodor Ziolkowski]] writers often did so by turning to Goethe.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ziolkowski |first=Theodore |year=2001 |title=Das Treffen in Buchenwald oder Der vergegenwärtigte Goethe |journal=Modern Language Studies |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=131–50 |jstor=3195281 |doi=10.2307/3195281}}</ref> Artist [[Léon Delarbre]] sketched, besides other scenes of camp life, the [[Goethe Oak]], under which he used to sit and write.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=David Fraser|title=John Piper: The Forties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7WuzDK3dSkC&pg=PA84|year=2000|publisher=New Age International|isbn=978-0-85667-534-8|page=84}}</ref> One of the few prisoners who escaped from the camp, the Belgian Edmond Vandievoet, recounted his experiences in a book whose English title is "I escaped from a Nazi Death Camp" [Editions Jourdan, 2015]. In his work ''[[Night (memoir)|Night]]'',  [[Elie Wiesel]] talks about his stay in Buchenwald, including his father's death.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wiesel|first1=Elie|title=La Nuit|date=2007|publisher=Éditions de Minuit|location=Paris|pages=194–200|edition=2nd}}</ref> [[Jacques Lusseyran]], a leader in the underground resistance to the German occupation of France, was eventually sent to Buchenwald after being arrested, and described his time there in his autobiography.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lusseyran|first1=Jacques|translator-last1=Elizabeth R.Cameron|translator-first1=|title=And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance|date=1998|publisher=Parabola Books|location=New York|pages=272–309|edition=2nd}}</ref>

===Visit from President Obama and Chancellor Merkel===
[[File:President Obama Visits Buchenwald Concentration Camp.webm|thumb|Video of President Obama's visit]]
On 5 June 2009 [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Barack Obama]] and [[Chancellor of Germany|German Chancellor]] [[Angela Merkel]] visited Buchenwald after a tour of [[Dresden Castle]] and [[Dresden Frauenkirche|Church of Our Lady]]. During the visit they were accompanied by [[Elie Wiesel]] and [[Bertrand Herz]], both survivors of the camp.<ref name=Whitehouseblog>{{cite web |title=Buchenwald – The WhiteHouseBlog |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/Buchenwald/ |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |date=5 June 2009 |access-date=18 August 2012 }}</ref> {{Interlanguage link|Volkhard Knigge|de}}, the director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation and honorary professor of [[University of Jena]], guided the four guests through the remainder of the site of the camp.<ref name=Whitehouseremarks>{{cite speech |title=Remarks By President Obama, German Chancellor Merkel, And Elie Wiesel at Buchenwald Concentration Camp |event=Buchenwald memorial event |location=Weimar, Germany |date=5 June 2009 |publisher=The White House – Office of the Press Secretary |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-german-chancellor-merkel-and-elie-wiesel-buchenwald-concent |access-date=1 May 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129041423/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-german-chancellor-merkel-and-elie-wiesel-buchenwald-concent |archive-date=29 January 2017 }}</ref> During the visit Wiesel, who together with Herz were sent to the [[Little camp]] as 16-year-old boys, said, "if these trees could talk." His statement marked the irony about the beauty of the landscape and the horrors that took place within the camp.<ref name="Whitehouseremarks" /> President Obama mentioned during his visit that he had heard stories as a child from his great uncle, who was part of the [[89th Division (United States)|89th Infantry Division]], the first Americans to reach the camp at Ohrdruf, one of Buchenwald's satellites.<ref name="Whitehouseblog" /> Obama was the first sitting US President to visit the Buchenwald concentration camp.<ref name="cbsnews.com"/>