Berichte," by Walter Bartel, the number of deaths in Buchenwald is estimated at 56,545. This number is the sum of: The number of deaths according to material left behind by the SS: 33,462. Executions by shooting: 8,483. Executions by hanging (estimate): 1,100. Deaths during evacuation transports: 13,500. This total (56,545) corresponds to a death rate of 20 percent, assuming that the number of persons passing through the camp was 280,000. Allied airmen On 20 August 1944, 168 captured Allied airmen classified as "Terrorflieger" (terror flier) by the Gestapo, arrived at Buchenwald. The most common act for allied airmen to be classified a terror flier was to be captured in civilian clothing and/or without their dog tags. The German Foreign Office decided that these captured enemy airmen should not be given the legal status of prisoner of war (POWs) but should instead be treated as criminals and spies and were sent to Buchenwald. Unknown to all airmen except Lamason, their execution had been scheduled for 26 October, had they remained at Buchenwald. However, on the night of 19 October, seven days before their scheduled execution, 156 of the 168 airmen, including Lamason, were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the Luftwaffe. Eleven airmen were left behind in Buchenwald (British pilot P.D. Hemmens had already died), as they were too ill to be moved. US pilot L.C. Beck subsequently died, but the other ten airmen were transported to Stalag Luft III, in small groups, over a period of several weeks. Deaths among the deported Danish policemen Of the 1960 deported Danish policemen who came to Buchenwald in late September and early October 1944, 62 (3%) died in Buchenwald. One reason for the lower death rate was the help these policemen received in the form of packets provided by the Danish Red Cross. Furthermore, their length of the stay was relatively short. On 16 December 1944, 1604 of the policemen were transferred to Mühlberg after their status was changed to prisoners of war. References Walter Bartel: "Buchenwald : Mahnung und Verpflichtung : Dokumente und Berichte", published 1960. Notes See also List of Nazi-German concentration camps KLB Club