Obj. ID: 57594
Memorials Bell Tower Holocaust Memorial in Buchenwald, Germany, 1954/58
Name of Monument:
Buchenwald Memorial / Nationale Mahn-und Gedenksätte Buchenwald (The GDR Memorial)
Bell Tower (Tower of Freedom until 1970s)
Who/What is Commemorated?
Inmates of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Description (prose):
The Bell Tower, also known as the Tower of Freedom until the 1970s, is the culmination of the series of monumental installations that are all part of the Buchenwald Memorial, the largest monument commemorating a Nazi concentration camp in Europe. The large-scale memorial complex is located on the southern slopes of Ettersberg Mountain. When built, the total monument was meant to be experienced as an educational, emotional, and commemorative progression with a strong ideological message. The visitor’s journey leads through the camp from the crematorium, and continues down to the ring graves, and finally uphill again to the bell tower which was intended to stand as a symbol of freedom and light.
The light-colored sandstone tower is made of cut stone blocks and is visible from a great distance. It occupies the highest point of the total Buchenwald Monument, at the top of the monumental stairs, behind the sculptural group Revolt of the Prisoners [link].
The tower rises in four distinct parts. There is a short wider base from which launches the main rectangular stone windowless shaft of the tower. A small bronze double door is at the base of the tower, facing the sculpture, the stairway and the valley below. A slogan for the future is inscribed on the door.
The stone tower shaft is topped by an attic story with a row of five tall and narrow windows on each side. Above this, and distinctly different in material and style, is the bell pavilion, made of smooth, light-colored concrete. This space open to the air, also with five tall narrow openings – closed by metal railings – on each side. The Buchenwald Bell is rung here, its sound carrying out from the open walls over the valley below. Inscribed above this pavilion in large Roman numbers is the date MXMXLV (1945).
Inside the lowest level of the bell tower are the earth and ash from concentration camps and sites of Nazi oppression from throughout Europe. These are sealed beneath a bronze slab. Inside, two sets of stairs lead upward to the viewing and speakers’ platform used by GDR officials to address crowds at assemblies and events. At the top of the tower is the almost seven-ton Buchenwald bell, which rings on the hour.
Inscriptions
On Doors of The Tower of Freedom:
Die vernichtung des Nazismus mit seinen wurzeln ist unsere losung
Der aufbau einer neuen welt des friedens und der freiheit ist unser ziel
translation:
The destruction of Nazism and its roots is our slogan / The construction of a new world of peace and freedom is our goal
At top of tower:
M X M X L V
Commissioned by
German Democratic Republic (GDR) government
German national memorial site managed by Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
sub-set tree: 
concrete
bronze
The monument's builders intended the tower to stand as an affirmation of the GDR as the better Germany (as opposed to the GDR’s rival West Germany). The parapet of the bell tower was used as a speaker's platform for leading GDR state and party representatives during mass assemblies, which regularly took place on the square in front of the tower. Here, soldiers of the National People's Army (NVA) were sworn in, workers were recognized, and other ceremonies took place.
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