Allied Commander-in-Chief Eisenhower inspects the bodies of a number of prisoners at the Ohrdruf concentration camp, which was first liberated by American troops on April 4, 1945, on April 12. In order to prevent Nazi Germany from admitting to the Holocaust, all nearby Allied personnel, including military personnel, were ordered to pass through and inspect the concentration camp.
American soldiers were not spared the horrors of Nazi Germany's atrocities. The first Nazi concentration camp to be liberated by the U.S. military was the Ohrdruf concentration camp, a branch of the Buchenwald concentration camp, which was liberated on April 4, 1945. After it was liberated by the U.S. military, Allied Commander-in-Chief Dwight D. Eisenhower inspected Ohrdruf camp on April 12 and ordered all nearby U.S. military officials to visit Ohrdruf concentration camp. Between 1937 and 1945, some 250,000 people were imprisoned in all the camps, and at least 56,000 prisoners were massacred, including probably about 11,000 Jews.
The U.S. military also liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Weimar, Germany, the headquarters of the Ohrdruf concentration camp department, on April 11. When they reached the concentration camp, they broke through the thick barbed wire fence surrounding it. The fence, which prevented prisoners from escaping the horrible death camps, was electrically heated. When they broke through the fence, the unexpected Nazi German soldiers had retreated. As we scouted the concentration camp, we saw several buildings with large chimneys that had been used as crematoriums. As we approached the camp buildings, we crossed prisoners with troublesome looks in their eyes. The prisoners were skin and bones from extreme starvation. As we passed through the camp, we came upon a horrific scene at the mass grave of the Holocaust victims. The mass grave was a pile of naked corpses about 1.5 meters high, filled with stench and horrible smell. The bodies were piled up like firewood and scattered all over the concentration camp. American soldiers were shocked at the way they were taken to the poison gas chambers and killed.
When American troops liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp, they found about 21,000 emaciated and starving prisoners and piles of dead bodies. Eisenhower wanted as many soldiers as possible to inspect the concentration camps, assuming that "the day will come when the son of a bitch will say that this never happened. He ordered soldiers to witness the horrors. The victims of the concentration camps included not only Jews, but also atrocities committed against non-Jewish prisoners. When other Nazi concentration camps were liberated, many American soldiers suffered emotional post-traumatic syndrome from the horrors they witnessed. It included tears, screams, denial, and hatred. The barbaric way in which prisoners were treated, killed, and buried in the death camps was inhumane. The release of the prisoners may have mitigated some of the devastating effects of the Holocaust, but the tragic events will forever haunt.
