Introduction

Most Of This Book Is About Constructions of Buchenwald's past in the interests of the present, both in the GDR and in contemporary Germany. But before examining the manner in which this past was and is represented, it is important to try to present it as it “really was,” or at least to get as close to this reality as possible on the basis of available sources. Only against the background of such a presentation will the discrepancy between the complex character of communist resistance at Buchenwald and the equally complex circumstances of Zweig's rescue on the one hand and the simplified, tendentious versions of these constructed in East Germany and indeed in post-unification Germany on the other become apparent. This chapter, therefore, after providing a brief general history of Buchenwald concentration camp, examines the role played by Buchenwald's communist prisoners within the camp and the question of their contribution to the rescue of children at Buchenwald. This examination provides the general context for the specific story of the rescue of Stefan Jerzy Zweig, as related by his father Zacharias, which then follows. The chapter concludes with a section in which other prisoners’ memories of Stefan's rescue, and the evidence provided by archival documents, are set in relation to Zacharias's in order to fill in the gaps in his account and also to point out and investigate any inconsistencies. Not all of these can be conclusively resolved. Nevertheless, I hope that a generally reliable picture will emerge of the essentials of the process by which Stefan Zweig came to survive “the brown apocalypse.”

Death and Survival at Buchenwald

Buchenwald concentration camp was built in 1937. Initially, about half of its prisoners were men who had been incarcerated on political grounds, many of them communists. The other half was made up of what were known in the camp as “professional criminals” — men who had already served sentences for criminal activities but had to endure further incarceration for “preventive” purposes.