Causes of death at Buchenwald
Buchenwald was not an extermination camp but it was the site of an extraordinary number of deaths. The main cause of death was illness due to harsh camp conditions. many were literally worked to death. other prisoners were murdered by shooting or hanging.Walter Gernard Martin Sommer(master Sargent) was known as the hang man of Buchenwald was especially infamous for hanging prisoners from trees with their wrists behind their backs in the " singing forest ", so named because of the screams which emanated from this wooded area.
Number of deaths
According to SS documents 33,462. these document are however not necessarily accurate. among those executed before 1944 and arriving prisoners selected for execution were not entered into the camps register and therefore were not among 33,462 dead listed.
According to the same source the total number of deaths at Buchenwald estimated at 56,545, this number is the sum of:
-deaths according to the material left behind by the SS=33,462
-execution by shooting=8,483
-execution by hanging=1,100
-deaths during evacuation transports=13,500
Forced labor at Buchenwald
Buchenwald had a large production area for brick making which was owned by the SS German earth and stone company, which provided the materials for many of Hitlers new buildings .
Food
Meal times were the most important part of the day. After morning role call they would be given morning meal-coffee or herbal tea. For lunch prisoners would be given a liter of watery soup.If they were lucky they might find a piece of turnip or potato peel. In the evening they would be given a piece of black bread weighing 300 grams.,with a tiny piece of sausage,marmalade or cheese. The bread was to last the prisoners till the morning , they would try to hide it on their person whilst they slept. Kity hart-moxon a survivor , remembers the high value placed on food. She would sometimes take the piece of bread from the body of someone who had died during the night.
Buchenwald was not an extermination camp but it was the site of an extraordinary number of deaths. The main cause of death was illness due to harsh camp conditions. many were literally worked to death. other prisoners were murdered by shooting or hanging.Walter Gernard Martin Sommer(master Sargent) was known as the hang man of Buchenwald was especially infamous for hanging prisoners from trees with their wrists behind their backs in the " singing forest ", so named because of the screams which emanated from this wooded area.
Number of deaths
According to SS documents 33,462. these document are however not necessarily accurate. among those executed before 1944 and arriving prisoners selected for execution were not entered into the camps register and therefore were not among 33,462 dead listed.
According to the same source the total number of deaths at Buchenwald estimated at 56,545, this number is the sum of:
-deaths according to the material left behind by the SS=33,462
-execution by shooting=8,483
-execution by hanging=1,100
-deaths during evacuation transports=13,500
Forced labor at Buchenwald
Buchenwald had a large production area for brick making which was owned by the SS German earth and stone company, which provided the materials for many of Hitlers new buildings .
Food
Meal times were the most important part of the day. After morning role call they would be given morning meal-coffee or herbal tea. For lunch prisoners would be given a liter of watery soup.If they were lucky they might find a piece of turnip or potato peel. In the evening they would be given a piece of black bread weighing 300 grams.,with a tiny piece of sausage,marmalade or cheese. The bread was to last the prisoners till the morning , they would try to hide it on their person whilst they slept. Kity hart-moxon a survivor , remembers the high value placed on food. She would sometimes take the piece of bread from the body of someone who had died during the night.