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History of Weimar


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The Bauhaus University and the Liszt School of Music Weimar, attracted many students, specializing in art, media and design, architecture, civil engineering and music. The Bauhaus in Weimar lasted from 1919 to 1925, when it moved to Dessau, after the newly-elected right-wing city council put pressure on the School by withdrawing funding and forcing its teachers to quit.

Many buildings in Weimar today have influences from the Bauhaus period. However, only one original Bauhaus building was constructed during 1919-1925, the Haus am Horn, now used for exhibitions and events on Bauhaus culture. The Bauhaus Museum, on Theaterplatz, offers an exhibition of works from the Bauhaus period in Weimar and screens an informative film about the movement's influences on Weimar city.

In 1937, the Nazis constructed the Buchenwald concentration camp, only eight kilometres from Weimar's city centre. The slogan Jedem das Seine (literally "to each his own", but figuratively "everyone gets what he deserves") was placed over the camp's main entrance gate. Between July 1938 and April 1945, some 240,000 people were incarcerated in the camp by the Nazi regime, including 168 Western Allied POWs. The number of deaths at Buchenwald is estimated at 56,545. The Buchenwald concentration camp provided slave labour for local industry (arms industry of Wilhelm-Gustloff-Werk).

The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Weimar in April 1945, and the city surrendered to the US 80th Infantry Division on April 12, 1945.  The residents of Weimar were ordered to walk through Buchenwald, to see what had been happening so close to the city, as documented in Billy Wilder's film Death Mills. The city ended up in the Soviet zone of occupation, however, so US troops were soon replaced with Russian forces. From 1945 to 1950, the Soviet Union used the occupied Buchenwald concentration camp to imprison defeated Nazis and other Germans. The camp slogan remained Jedem das Seine. On 6
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