Day 11: Buchenwald

Flicked through Rolf Julius' Small Music (Grau) over tea and cornflakes this morning at the Hababusch dinner table. It was the quietest morning since we arrived here on Sunday afternoon, I guessed we were the only people there aside from the reception staff. Outside it was a leaden misty morning with a chilly air, good thing I brought my Solar Shop vest with me though the thought of buying a jacket whilst I'm over here has crossed my mind on more than one occasion. Lauren and I had coffee at a nice friendly cafe on the Theatre platz then waited for a bus to take us up to the Buchenwald Memorial and concentration camp (15km north of Weimar.)

In the light of atrocities during the 20th Century and Second World War, Buchenwald has a profound historical significance. As we approached the camp through the surrounding forests and heavy mist I got a feeling I've rarely felt - a light gut wrenching that made me both tense and melancholie. Of the many unsettling things that struck me was the serene quietness of the place - the hush amongst fellow visitors, the dead ambience of rooms, the whispers and breath of tall trees bunched together in green and yellow.




In the evening we returned to Weimar, had some dinner and attended a student film night at the Neu Museum. There was a visual art exhibition by students from the Bauhaus University in the foyer, a variety of small works placed together on hexagonal columns. Most of them consisted of found objects and some were very good using an interesting combination of materials. As for the films, since they were all in German I had a good time watching the films instead of listening to them. It's interesting how you focus on other details of a film when you remove the dialog, or more appropriately displace it due to the langauge barrier.