Editing Weimar (section)

=== Nazi Germany and World War II ===
[[File:Jedemdasseine.jpg|thumb|left|[[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald's]] main gate, with the slogan ''[[Jedem das Seine]]'' ("to each his own")]]
Weimar was important to the Nazis for two reasons: first, it was where the hated Weimar Republic was founded, and second, it had been a centre of German high culture in recent centuries. In 1926, the [[NSDAP]] held its party convention in Weimar. [[Adolf Hitler]] visited Weimar more than forty times prior to 1933. In 1930, [[Wilhelm Frick]] became minister for internal affairs and education in Thuringia {{En dash}} the first NSDAP minister in Germany. In 1932, the NSDAP came to power in Thuringia under [[Fritz Sauckel]]. In 1933, the first [[Nazi concentration camps]] were established around Weimar in [[Nohra]] (the first one in Germany) and [[Bad Sulza]]. Most prisoners at this time were communists and social democrats. After [[Kristallnacht]] in 1938, harassment of Jews became more intense, so that many of them emigrated or were arrested. The Weimar Synagogue was destroyed in 1938.

During the 1930s, the barracks in Weimar was greatly extended. One famous person serving as a soldier in Weimar was [[Wolfgang Borchert]], later a well known poet and playwright. As it was the capital of Thuringia, the Nazis built a new Roman-fascist-style administrative centre between the city centre and the main station. This {{Interlanguage link|Gauforum|de}}, designed by [[Hermann Giesler]], was the only Nazi governmental building completed outside Berlin (though there were plans for all German state capitals). Today it hosts the Thuringian State Administration. Other Giesler buildings are the {{Interlanguage link|Villa Sauckel|de}}, the governor's palace and the {{Interlanguage link|Hotel Elephant|de}} in the city centre.

In 1937, the Nazis established [[Buchenwald concentration camp]] {{Cvt|8|km|mi}} from Weimar city centre. Between July 1938 and April 1945, some 240,000 people were incarcerated in the camp by the Nazi regime, including [[Allied airmen at Buchenwald concentration camp|168 Western Allied POWs]].<ref>Bartel, Walter: ''Buchenwald—Mahnung und Verpflichtung: Dokumente und Berichte'' (Buchenwald: Warnings and our obligation [to future generations]—Documents and reports), Kongress-Verlag, 1960. p. 87, line 8. {{in lang|de}}</ref> The [[number of deaths in Buchenwald]] is estimated at 56,545.<ref>[http://buchenwald.libsyn.com/ Podcast with one of 2000 Danish policemen in Buchenwald.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013163821/http://buchenwald.libsyn.com/ |date=13 October 2007}} Episode 6 is about statistics for the number of deaths at Buchenwald.</ref> The Buchenwald concentration camp provided [[slave labour]] for local industry, including the ''[[Wilhelm Gustloff Stiftung|Wilhelm-Gustloff-Werk]]'' arms factory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Victor |first=Edward |year=2001 |title=Buchenwald |url=http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/Buchenwald.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227003110/http://www.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/Buchenwald.htm |archive-date=2022-12-27 |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=www.edwardvictor.com}}</ref>

The city centre was partially damaged by US Air Force bombing in 1945 with some 1,800 people killed and many historic buildings destroyed. Nevertheless, most of the destroyed buildings were restored soon after the war because of their importance in German cultural history. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Weimar in April 1945, and the city surrendered to the US [[80th Infantry Division (United States)|80th Infantry Division]] on 12 April 1945.<ref>Stanton, Shelby, ''World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946'', Stackpole Books (Revised Edition 2006), p. 150</ref> The residents of Weimar were ordered to walk through Buchenwald, to see what had been happening so close to the city, as documented in [[Billy Wilder]]'s film ''[[Death Mills]]''. The city ended up in the [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany]], so US troops were soon replaced by Soviet forces.