On this day in 1945, lead elements of the U.S Third Army’s 6th Armoured Division liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp, near Weimar, Germany.

Buchenwald was one of the first Nazi camps to be liberated by the Western allies who on their arrival found 21,000 prisoners clinging to life.

Buchenwald Survivor taken after liberation by the US 3rd Army

On the day of liberation as American troops neared the camp, the SS were ordered to abandon Buchenwald. As senior SS commanders fled, the International Camp Committee mobilised its fighters, distributed hidden arms, and took over the camp overpowering the remaining SS guards.

From 1937 when Buchenwald opened to its liberation in 1945, over a quarter of a million men, women and children from over 50 countries passed through its gates or the gates of its numerous satellite camps.

Nearly 60,000 people died at Buchenwald while thousands more were sent on death marches to other camps or on death transports to Auschwitz.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, allied supreme commander, visited Buchenwald where the experience clearly left an indelible mark; he stated, “I have never felt able to describe my emotional reaction when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency.”

For more information on visiting Buchenwald to keep the memory of those that perished alive, please see their website: Buchenwald Homepage - Buchenwald Memorial

For more information on the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust, please see their website: Holocaust Educational Trust - Latest News (het.org.uk)

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