The first documented musician in Buchenwald was Willi Dehnert, imprisoned from 1937 to 1938. Working as a nurse in the infirmary, he requested the return of his confiscated guitar and began performing occasionally for patients and eventually in various barracks. While technically not permitted, his musical activities were tolerated by camp officials, including the First and Second Camp Elders.
In 1938, approximately one year after the camp's establishment, protective custody camp leader Rödl—described as a "fanatical" music lover—formed the official camp band. Rödl, born in 1898, had volunteered for war service in 1914 and joined the SS in 1928. From August 1937 to April 1941, he served as the first protective custody camp leader of Buchenwald.
The initial band primarily consisted of Roma and Sinti prisoners (classified by the Nazis as "Blacks," considered "asocial" and "work-shy"), several Jehovah's Witnesses (referred to as "Bible Students" in the records), and a Czech musician. Most band members had only basic musical abilities—some couldn't even read music. The bandmaster at that time was a German chanson singer also categorized among the "Black" prisoner group. The band's early musical performance was notably poor.
With the outbreak of war, the camp band's function was upgraded. In late 1940, SS Standartenführer H. Florstedt ordered new instruments, mostly winds, which arrived in early 1941. The band expanded from 12 to 18 members, but the quality of music did not significantly improve, leading to the need for new leadership.
The most significant transformation occurred under the leadership of Vlastimil Louda, a political prisoner of Czech origin who had been the former editor-in-chief of Narodni politika. Though he played violin well, Louda had never worked as a bandmaster. His organizational skills, however, proved crucial for survival in the camp and for satisfying camp administration demands. Politically active in the Czech resistance before his December 1939 arrest, Louda maintained connections with the political underground.
Louda strategically replaced the semi-professional musicians with more accomplished performers who shared his political views. This enabled him to "use the band for forbidden purposes as well." He obtained permission to increase the band's size from 18 to 32 members, creating an International Camp Band with musicians from all prisoner groups. Under his leadership, the band's membership grew steadily, reaching approximately 120 members by 1945.
Organization and Repertoire
The camp administration controlled the band's organization from founding until dissolution after liberation. However, the administration's influence fluctuated over time. Initially, they appointed the bandmaster but left other organizational aspects to the band itself. The high demands of the position resulted in rapid turnover—six different bandmasters served between 1938 and spring 1942. Louda's tenure as the seventh and final bandmaster until 1945 underscores his exceptional organizational abilities.
Louda's first priority was expanding the sparse repertoire to improve morale among musicians and prisoners. He had his wife send him sheet music, which arrived without problems or censorship. These were primarily Czech pieces that had a profound effect on both musicians and prisoners. According to accounts, "It was as if a bomb had exploded in the monotony of camp life... Heads craned up, and a self-confident smile spread across the gloomy, sullen faces." One survivor remembered:
the music of the songs of Zarah Leander, whom the SS put on the camp loudspeakers at every opportunity. The infectious and martial music that the Buchenwald orchestra played morning and evenings on the central roll call plaza, and during the departure and arrival of the work commandos. And also the illegal music, by means of which our world was brought into contact with freedom: the classical music, that would sound some evenings in a basement of the Effektenkammer from a string quartet led by Maurice Hewitt; jazz music by a orchestra founded by Jiri Zak.
A year later, Louda expanded the repertoire again with similar positive results. This dual approach allowed the band to fulfil the camp command's requirements while fostering cultural life within the camp. With supportive musicians, Louda arranged concerts and performances that would otherwise have been impossible against the camp commandant's wishes. He not only procured external sheet music but also ensured original camp compositions were rehearsed and performed.
The Band's Appearance and Functions
From around 1941, the musicians began wearing distinctive uniforms of the Yugoslav Royal Guard: red riding breeches with yellow seams, blue coats with brass buttons and gold cords, and dark blue brigadier caps with fixed peaks. To other prisoners, the musicians appeared like a "circus orchestra." These uniforms provided advantages—making musicians more easily distinguishable from other prisoners and potentially helping them escape certain punishments—but also made them more conspicuous and easier to control. The uniforms were notably warmer than standard prisoner clothing, particularly beneficial during winter.
The Buchenwald camp band's duties differed somewhat from orchestras in other concentration camps. While other camp bands often performed at SS military events, Buchenwald had a separate divisional band for those functions. The prisoner band's ostensible purpose was to lift spirits and bring variety to the prisoners' dreary lives.
However, its actual function was to maintain order in prisoner columns entering and leaving the camp. The band played during roll calls, formation marches in the morning and evening, barrack searches, and punishments. It essentially completed the military SS system, serving as a tool for control and domination.
From 1943 onward, the band received permission to give public concerts legally. Beyond these official duties, musicians organized many unauthorized "smaller" concerts, which prisoners enthusiastically received. A small group of musicians also performed "like real village musicians" for holidays, birthdays, or to mark anniversaries of imprisonment.
Although the vast majority of Buchenwald inmates were not exposed to much of this music, daily life at the camp over its eight years of existence saw an unusual amount of cultural activity. There is an odd sort of appropriateness to this, as the camp was constructed only five miles north of the city of Weimar, the cultural centre of Germany and symbol of that nation’s long tradition of literary and musical excellence.
The most common musical experience at Buchenwald was SS-organised musical torture, which was a part of every inmate’s daily life. The most ubiquitous form was forced mass singing. As thousands of exhausted inmates gathered for evening roll call, the camp commander would insist that they all sing in unison, on key and loudly. One former inmate recalled,
how could [this] singing ever go right? We were a chorus of ten thousand men. Even in normal conditions, and if all singers had really known how to sing, it would have required several weeks of training. And how were we to get over the laws of acoustics? The mustering-ground measured three hundred paces or more across. Hence the voices of the men on the far side of the ground were bound to reach [camp commander] Rödl’s ear almost a second later than those of the men near the gate.
This singing was also an opportunity for the guards to humiliate and arbitrarily punish prisoners.
In the camp's early days, the administration organized a competition for the best camp song. Ironically, the winning "Buchenwaldlied" (Buchenwald song) became equally beloved by prisoners and the guards who forced them to sing it. Set to an energetic march, its rousing chorus focused on the eventual freedom awaiting beyond camp walls. Many prisoners considered singing it an act of resistance, particularly the line "then once will come the day when we are free."
Jewish prisoners faced additional musical humiliation through the "Judenlied" (Jew Song), a grotesque antisemitic piece written by a German prisoner seeking favour with the SS. After roll call, Jewish prisoners were occasionally forced to remain behind and sing this song repeatedly for hours. During important visits, Jewish prisoners were specifically commanded to perform songs about Jewish conspiracy and stereotypical physical features. In December 1938, several Jewish men were gathered in the main square, forced to dance to music until they collapsed, then made to waltz on their knees, and finally whipped in time to the music when they could no longer move.
Beyond targeting Jews, camp commander Rödl stationed singers next to torture devices to perform during whippings. When Soviet POWs were being executed, music often masked the sounds, with the entire camp sometimes forced to sing during shootings. Camp guards frequently used the radio and loudspeaker system to broadcast orders, Nazi propaganda, and "Germanic" music.
Daily Life of Musicians
Initially, the SS viewed the camp band as a standard work detail. Since playing during prisoner column movements wasn't considered full-time work, musicians were assigned additional labour in the lumberyard or carpentry shop, leaving no time for practice.
Between 1942 and 1945, the band played marches twice daily, with wind instruments rehearsing in the morning and strings in the afternoon. Block leaders often commandeered these practice sessions for personal performances. Outside these duties, musicians performed cleaning services in the barracks, including tidying and laundry. They were frequently summoned to play uninterrupted marches during executions and punishments. Occasionally, band members were called to the roll call area not to perform but to undergo "physical exercises" under SS supervision.
Many band members were not professional musicians, or they played instruments different from those they had previously learned. For example:
- Vlastimil Louda was an engineer who played violin, directed the band, and performed in his own quartet
- F. Polak was originally a lawyer who worked as a music notator and played cello
- Kasimir Timinski was a trained mining engineer who had played piano since childhood but was assigned as a trumpet player
- J. Mikula, a former teacher, played viola in the band
This diversity of backgrounds indicates that entry into the band didn't necessarily require advanced musical training. However, over the course of its existence the camp held many well-known figures of the German entertainment world, including Jura Soyfer, Hermann Leopoldi, Fritz Löhner-Beda and Paul Morgan.
Clandestine Musical Activities
Despite early restrictions limiting music to official functions, prisoners engaged in various secret musical activities from the camp's inception. One of the first unauthorized bands formed by Jewish prisoners created a powerful impact, as former inmate Carlebach recalled:
"one evening, exhausted, filthy, some of us covered in blood, dragged in from labour, we stood frozen in shock. On two shoved-together tables, between the bare barracks walls, sat four of our comrades playing Mozart. Only someone who has experienced the horrors of Buchenwald can understand what an impact that had. And this impact was unbelievable; people who had stood on the edge of suicide found themselves again, discovered some courage and confidence."
The group was eventually discovered and punished. Soviet POWs organized cultural evenings for special holidays featuring folk songs. Political prisoners sang songs from communist youth and labour movements. A particularly significant event was the September 18, 1944, memorial concert for Ernst Thaelmann, former leader of the German Communist Party who had been killed in Buchenwald the previous month. Communist and political prisoners arranged a secret performance with lectures, music, poems, and songs honouring him and his cause.
By the camp's later years, variety shows featuring singing, music, skits, and jokes were staged on Sundays. Over 25 such concerts were performed to packed halls attended by prisoners, guards, and even the camp commander. These shows included members of the bands and string quartets along with many other musicians and singers.
Privileges and Survival Chances
In the band's early years, musicians enjoyed no more privileges than other prisoners, as the band was treated like any other work detail. This changed in 1941 when uniforms distinguished band members from other prisoners. The camp band functioned as a showcase during visits from high-ranking SS delegations, elevating musicians' status among block leaders.
Working as "caretakers" or "cleaners" between rehearsals allowed musicians to influence barracks hygiene conditions and even food distribution. They could use short breaks to rest, significantly boosting morale. However, competition existed within the band as members feared losing favour with their captors due to internal rivalries.
Band members' survival chances were significantly higher than those in other work details. Deaths from overexertion or punishment occurred far less frequently than in demanding assignments like quarry work or external details. Most musicians who joined the band survived until liberation in 1945.
Louda strategically used his position to rescue prisoners from deadly work assignments. He recruited them to the band as musicians or declared them indispensable, thus transferring them to less dangerous details. Examples include:
- Andrej Volrab, imprisoned in July 1943, met Louda on his first day and was registered as a music notator, creating several pieces for the band while avoiding "heavy" work
- Kazimirz Radwanski and Boleslaw Mazanek were both rescued from harsh work details and placed in the band, surviving their imprisonment
The growing membership numbers demonstrate Louda's efforts to provide safety to many prisoners, even those with limited musical ability.
Perspectives on the Band as a "Light" Command
Whether the camp band constituted an "easy" assignment depends on perspective. Compared to deadly work details, band membership offered significantly better survival chances. However, musicians faced both physical and psychological challenges often invisible to other prisoners.
Vlastimil Louda considered the band only a "seemingly easy command." He noted the strain musicians experienced while playing—breaks between pieces progressively shortened, requiring around 30 marches to be played within four hours during morning and evening movements, some repeated more than a dozen times. "The musicians were required to perform great feats while lacking sufficient food. It's therefore no wonder that even from this seemingly easy unit, six comrades had to retire due to lung weakness and tuberculosis."
Deaths occurred outside musical activities as well. Under SS-OStuF.-Gust, the entire band was called to the roll call square four times for "physical exercises"—doing "up" and "down" under SS supervision for up to 2.5 hours. "During the last of these exercises, three comrades remained lying on the roll call square and I myself had to lose a tooth," Louda reported.
The psychological burden was equally severe: "Every day up to 100 comrades were dragged or carried into the camp, half-dead or dead. The band had to play along, regardless of whether their lips were holding the mouthpiece of the instrument or their eyes were filled with tears. The band could see how half-dead comrades were led from the political department, from the hands of the Gestapo assessors Lecker or Serno, and others were led from the arrest by the executioner to the place of execution."
Kasimir Timinski, having experienced various work details before joining the band, described it as comparatively easy. He had firsthand experience with physical demands in other assignments at both Buchenwald and Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, he initially worked as a bricklayer despite being a mining engineer. In Buchenwald, though claiming to be a musician, he was first assigned to deforestation and railway construction before eventually securing a position as a trumpet player. For Timinski, band membership primarily represented survival.
Conclusion
The question of whether the camp band represented an "easy" assignment must consider multiple perspectives. Musicians undoubtedly enjoyed more privileges than most prisoners, making their concentration camp experience somewhat less brutal. However, they remained subject to the same oppressive system and capricious camp administration.
While workers in hard labor details often regarded musicians as privileged "slackers," deaths among band members occurred regularly under the harsh conditions. The band functioned as a permanent fixture within the SS system, and securing a position within it substantially increased survival chances—the primary concern for all prisoners.
The fundamental question might not be whether certain commands were "light," but rather: "In which command do you have the best chance of survival?" In deadly details like quarry work, survival chances approached zero, with few assignments offering better prospects. The camp orchestra provided relative safety, giving prisoners their most precious possession—hope for survival.
Music in Buchenwald played contradictory roles: it served as a tool for control and humiliation, a mechanism for survival, a means of resistance, and a source of momentary solace. The camp band's story reveals the complex ways prisoners navigated an inhumane system, finding spaces for both survival and maintaining dignity amid systematic brutality.
Buchenwald was liberated by American troops on 11 April 1945. By this point, many thousands of prisoners had already been evacuated on death marches. Until the last inmates left the camp, it was temporarily designated a Displaced Person’s Camp. During that time the US Army withdrew from the area, and at the beginning of July 1945 the camp was evacuated and given over to the Soviet troops.
