VJF/ESC 6.3 Never forget: Buchenwald
Vereinigung junger Freiwilliger e.V.
Berlin, Germany
Description
The volunteers will work at the memorial site of the former concentration camp of Buchenwald. It is located upon a hill around 10 km from Weimar, the city where Goethe and Schiller worked and lived, but also where the Nazi movement had already in the 1920’s a lot of supporters. Today the site of the Memorial is at the same time a cemetery, an evidence for the crimes which were committed in Buchenwald, a place of grief and commemoration for the victims and a place of historical and political education and information outside the school-system. The main project for the practical work will be on the “Buchenwald Railway Memorial Trail” where you will work for the preservation and maintenance of the former railway path. In addition, you will take part in a remembrance project when you produce memorial stones that commemorate children and young people who were deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz and murdered there. Study part: National Socialist history.
Accommodation, food and transport arrangements
You will stay in the International Young People’s Centre, situated on the area of the former concentration camp. You will have to share the room with 2 volunteers. Sanitary facilities including showers are in the rooms. You do not need a sleeping bag or bed linen. You can use a washing machine for a small fee. There is internet access in the accommodation. More information: https://www.buchenwald.de/en/130/ Food: Food will be provided. There will be no possibility to cook.
Training during the activity
Study part: The program will focus on the National Socialist history (i.e. on the concentration camp system, the NS ideology and the NS society) and its effects and consequences until today. The responsible pedagogical assistant of the Memorial will show you the remains and history of the former camp, step-bystep, through different tours on the site. Moreover, you will visit exhibitions and watch documentary movies, and those who would like may work with materials of the library or the archive.
Participant profile
For this Workcamp it is necessary to have very good English skills as we will get a lot of information about the time of Second World War.
Activity dates
From 17/08/2025 to 30/08/2025
Activity location
Berliner Allee 59/61, Berlin, Germany
Activity type
Volunteering teams
Looking for participants from
Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine
Activity topics
Citizenship and democratic participation
Education and training
Deadline for applications
No application deadline