Despite its modest size (with only 60.000 inhabitants) Weimar has played an important role in the development of German culture. The name is still inseparably connected with Goethe, Schiller, Herder and Nietzsche, who all made it their home. The same did the Cranachs and J.S. Bach as well as...

Despite its modest size (with only 60.000 inhabitants) Weimar has played an important role in the development of German culture. The name is still inseparably connected with Goethe, Schiller, Herder and Nietzsche, who all made it their home. The same did the Cranachs and J.S. Bach as well as the architects and designers of the Bauhaus school. Weimar's part in the politics of Germany is scarcely less significant: It was chosen as the seat of government of the democratic republic (Weimarer Republik) established after World War I, a regime that ended with the Nazi accession in 1933. One of the most notorious concentration camps was to be built here ( Buchenwald) and its presevation is a shocking reminder of the fact, that Germany has not only been the country of 'Dichter und Denker' (poets and philosophers), but also the one of 'Richter und Henker' (judges and executioners).

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