Just a few miles from Weimar, for eight years Ettersberg forest concealed one of the Nazi regime's largest concentration camps. Established in 1937 for the internment of political opponents, the camp was subsequently used for Jews, gypsies and foreigners from occupied countries. Some 250 000 individuals were imprisoned here. Not far away, in 1945, Soviet occupying forces opened Special Camp No. 2 for the internment of former Nazi party officials, Nazi criminals and political prisoners.