uary 1950, the Soviets handed over Buchenwald to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Weimar was part of the German Democratic Republic (DDR, East Germany) from 1949 to 1990.
The European Council of Ministers selected the city as European Capital of Culture for 1999.
On 2 September 2004, a fire broke out at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library. The library contains a 13,000-volume collection including Goethe's masterpiece Faust, in addition to a music collection of the Duchess. An authentic Lutheran Bible from 1534 was saved from the fire. The damage stretched into the millions of dollars. The number of books in this historic library exceeded 1,000,000, of which 40,000 to 50,000 were destroyed past recovery. The library, which dates back to 1691, belongs to UNESCO world heritage, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. The fire, with its destruction of much historical literature, amounts to a huge cultural loss for Germany, Europe, and indeed the world. A number of books were shock-frozen in the city of Leipzig to save them from rotting. On 24 October 2007 the library reopened. Visitors were advised to book their tickets many months in advance
