Konzentrationslager Buchenwald zoologischen Gärten

Buchenwald concentration camp

Description: In 1938, as soon as the camp opened, Commandant Karl Otto Koch ordered the construction of a park area for the SS guards, just outside the camp fence. The park featured a birdhouse, a water basin, and a zoo for four bears and five monkeys. The bears were in full view of the prisoners, and there was also an elaborate falconry in another area outside the camp where the SS kept birds of prey. The former Jewish prime minister of France, Leon Blum, was kept as a prisoner in the falconer's house, until he was transferred to Dachau.

Commandant Koch may have been a cruel, ostentatious embezzler, but he was soft-hearted when it came to animals. The camp guidebook contains the following order by Commandant Koch, concerning the animals at Buchenwald:

Commander's Order No. 56 dated 8th September 1938 (Extract)

1. "Buchenwald zoological gardens has been created in order to provide diversion and entertainment for the men in their leisure time and to show them the beauty and peculiarities of various animals which they will hardly be able to meet and observe in the wild."

"But we must also expect the visitor to be reasonable and fond of animals enough to refrain from anything that might not be good for the animals, cause harm to them or even compromise their health and habits. (...) In the meantime, I again received reports saying that SS men have tied the deer's horns to the fence and cut them loose only after a long while. Furthermore, it has been found that deer have been lured to the fence and tinfoil put in the mouth. In the future, I will find out the perpetrators of such loutish acts and have them reported to the SS Commander in Chief in order to have them punished for cruelty to animals."