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Memorial stone, Weimar–Buchenwald railway Memorial stone located on the former Weimar–Buchenwald railway which proceeded the Blutstraße (blood road) on its last kilometers. The ten-kilometre stretch of track between Weimar-Schöndorf and Buchenwald was built by concentration camp inmates within a mere three months. The line initially served the supply needs of the armament factory. Beginning in 1944, inmates – about one hundred thousand in all – were also transported on these tracks, many of them in open freight cars. Boys and men were brought to Buchenwald Concentration Camp from all over Europe and transferred from here to one of the subcamps for forced labour. Photo taken Monday 30 June 2014. Photo: Steffen Mokosch (Steffen.Mokosch@web.de)

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Weimar–Buchenwald railway map Map of the Weimar–Buchenwald railway seen along the blood road (Blutstraße). Originally the route should lead directly from Weimar to the north-west to the camp, however, the configured route proved to be too steep. So it was decided to continue an existing three-rail track of the Weimar–Großrudestedt narrow gauge railway from Weimar Nord to Schöndorf from the end of 1942, to reach the camp from there westwards over the Ettersberg Mountain. The now selected routing was indeed three times as long, but much easier to build. Photo taken Monday 30 June 2014. Photo: Steffen Mokosch (Steffen.Mokosch@web.de)

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Memorial tablet, Weimar–Buchenwald railway Memorial tablet located on the former Weimar–Buchenwald railway which proceeded the Blutstraße (blood road) on its last kilometers. Located centrical between the Buchenwald station and the road from Weimar to Ettersburg. It is possible to go by bus to this place. Photo taken Monday 30 June 2014. Photo: Steffen Mokosch (Steffen.Mokosch@web.de)

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Buchenwald station memorial Old track of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp restored by student groups between Autumn 1993 and 1994. The old wooden ties were exchanged. The station was built by inmates in 1943 initially to serve the supply requirements of the armament plants adjacent to the camp; beginning in 1944 it brought people from all of the many German-occupied countries to Buchenwald Concentration Camp and from there to labour sites in the sub-camps. Photo taken Monday 30 June 2014. Photo: Steffen Mokosch (Steffen.Mokosch@web.de)

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Buchenwald station memorial Platform of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. In the spring of 1943, the SS forced concentration camp inmates to build the ten-kilometre stretch of track between Weimar-Schöndorf and Buchenwald within a mere three months. Buchenwald Station was also the point of departure for extermination transports taking children and sick inmates to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. When the SS evacuated the camps in the East in January and February 1945, mass transports were sent to Buchenwald. Many of the inmates were already dead upon arrival or died shortly thereafter. Photo taken Monday 30 June 2014. Photo: Steffen Mokosch (Steffen.Mokosch@web.de)

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Buchenwald station memorial Platform and restored track of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Memorial tablet depicting the former route to Weimar and a memorial path following the old track seen in the foreground. Photo taken Monday 30 June 2014. Photo: Steffen Mokosch (Steffen.Mokosch@web.de)