Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [227]
Kasseturm ( 851 670; www.kasseturm.de; Goetheplatz 10) A little hipper than ‘Schütze’, Kasse is another venerable student club, with an assorted bag of parties, concerts, drum workshops and whatever else gets people off the couch. Three floors of action, for young and old.
Deutsches Nationaltheater (German National Theatre; 755 334; www.nationaltheater-weimar.de; Theaterplatz 2; tickets €8-55; closed Jul-Aug). Expect a grab bag of classic and contemporary theatre, opera and concerts at this venerable space.
E-Werk ( 748 868; www.ewerkweimar.de, in German; Am Kirschberg 4; Rebecca Horn exhibit adult/concession/under 16 €1.50/1/free; Rebecca Horn exhibit noon-6pm Sat & Sun May-Oct) The National Theatre also performs in this former tram depot, which also has a cinema, live music, cultural events and an excellent exhibit of works by contemporary avant-garde artist Rebecca Horn.
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Getting There & Away
Regular ICE services go to Frankfurt (€55, 2½ hours), Leipzig (€25, 50 minutes) and Dresden (€44, 2¼ hours); the IC train serves Berlin-Hauptbahnhof (€51, 2¼ hours). Erfurt (€5, 15 minutes) and Eisenach (€13.30, 1¼ hours) are served several times hourly, plus there’s frequent service to Jena-West (€5, 15 minutes).
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Getting Around
For trips outside the centre, there’s a good bus system (a single costs €1.70; a day pass, €4.20). For a taxi, call 903 600.
Grüne Liga ( 492 796; Goetheplatz 9b; 9am-3pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat) rents out city bikes from €6 per 24 hours (enter from Rollplatz).
Note that driving in the Altstadt is severely restricted, so it’s best to park outside the centre. There’s a free lot at Hermann-Brill-Platz, about a 10-minute walk northwest from the Altstadt.
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BUCHENWALD
The Buchenwald concentration camp museum and memorial ( 03643-4300; www.buchenwald.de; Ettersberg; admission free; buildings & exhibits 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, 10am-4pm Tue-Sun Nov-Mar, grounds open until sunset) are 10km northwest of Weimar. You first pass the memorial erected above the mass graves of some of the 56,500 victims from 18 nations that died here – including Jews, German antifascists and Soviet and Polish prisoners of war. The concentration camp and museum are 1km beyond the memorial. Many prominent German communists and social democrats, Ernst Thälmann and Rudolf Breitscheid among them, were murdered here. After 1943, prisoners were exploited in the production of weapons. Many died during medical experimentation. Shortly before the end of the war, some 28,000 prisoners were sent on death marches. Between 1937 and 1945, more than one-fifth of the 250,000 people incarcerated here died. On 11 April 1945, as US troops approached and the SS guards fled, the prisoners rebelled (at 3.15pm – the clock tower above the entrance still shows that time), overwhelmed the remaining guards and liberated themselves.
After the war, the Soviet victors established Special Camp No 2, in which 7000 so-called anticommunists and ex-Nazis were literally worked to death. Their bodies were found after the Wende in mass graves north of the camp and near the Hauptbahnhof.
Pamphlets and books in English are sold at the bookshop, where you can also rent an excellent multilanguage audioguide for €3 (€5 with images). Last admission is 30 minutes before closing.
To get here, take bus 6 (direction Buchenwald) from Goetheplatz in Weimar. By car, head north on Ettersburger Strasse from Weimar train station and turn left onto Blutstrasse.
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GOTHA
03621 / pop 46,250
Gotha was once described in historic documents as Thuringia’s wealthiest and most beautiful city. Although it can no longer lay claim to either, it remains a pleasant town, dominated by the grand and gracious Schloss Friedenstein, built by Duke Ernst I (1601–1675), the founder of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His descendants re-invented themselves as the House of Windsor after WWI and now occupy the British royal throne. Perhaps because