📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The volunteers will work at the memorial site of the former concentration camp of Buchenwald. It is located upon a hill around 10 km from Weimar, the city where Goethe and Schiller worked and lived, but also where the Nazi movement had already in the 1920s a lot of supporters. Here you can find more information about the memorial: http://www.buchenwald.de/en/69/
💼 What the programme involves
Study part:
We will get to know more about the time of fascism and we will discover places of racism and neo-fascism. The responsible pedagogical assistant of the memorial will show us the camp, step-by-step, through different excursions. Moreover we will see documentary movies, discuss about racism/anti-Semitism/fascism in our different countries and those who would like to may work with materials of the library or the archive. There is also the possibility to express yourself trough handicrafts as we also have a well-endowed arts room.
Work part:
We will do several jobs in the area of the memorial site, such as cleaning, gardening and restoration along the former railway line from Weimar to Buchenwald in cooperation with the curators of the memorial, and participate in archaeological excavations to find any artefacts relating to the prisoners. There is sometimes also the possibility of engraving stones in commemoration of the victims of the deportations. Our work will also include excursions to the original remains of the former concentration camp in Buchenwald.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Accommodation:
You will stay in the Youth Centre building, situated on the area of the former concentration camp. You will have to share the room with 2-3 volunteers. Sanitary facilities including showers are in the rooms.
Food:
Volunteers will cook the meals for themselves. Ideas for cooking are welcomed. Please bring anything to cook (special species or food) with you.
📍 About the location
That depends of course on the group. Weimar is a student and tourist city, and has many leisure facilities. There are some possibilities to go out in Weimar, such as going to the theatre, exhibitions or to concerts. The city is famous for its museums of German cultural history, including those about the famous poets Goethe and Schiller. There are also some student clubs where we could meet other people.
There is the possibility of going on excursions to Erfurt or other nearby towns (e.g. Leipzig) and going for walks in the hills of Thuringia, swimming etc. In the centre we can also use the Hi-fi and video equipment and the volunteers can do handicrafts in the arts room. In the building we have table tennis and table soccer.
⚠️ Requirements
For this Workcamp it is necessary to have very good English skills as we will get a lot of information about the time of Second World War!