Nazi Death Camp Liberation - April 1945

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
(Bergen-Belsen, Germany) Although it wasn't classified as a 'factory death camp,' Bergen-Belsen, near Hanover, Germany, was a Nazi prisoner-of-war and slave labor death camp where tens of thousands of people died slowly through starvation, dehydration, and disease.

Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945. A total of 100,000 prisoners from 40 countries, among them 50,000 Soviet prisoners of war and 30,000 Jews, had died in the camp.

In a further tragedy, British doctors were powerless to save the worst off. Of the 55,000 men and women who managed to stay alive until help came, some 14,000 never recovered from serious illness.

Notably, among those killed was teenage diarist Anne Frank. An official memorial ceremony at the site of Bergen-Belsen is scheduled for Sunday while another ceremony will occur at Hyde Park in London.

Also on Sunday will be memorial ceremonies in the camps of Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrueck near Berlin and Buchenwald in eastern Germany.

Buchenwald Concentration Camp
(Weimar, Germany) Sixty years ago, soldiers of the 3rd United States Army under General George S. Patton liberated 21,000 prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar.

Shortly before the Allies arrived, there were still 50,000 prisoners at Buchenwald. But as the troops approached, the SS began to evacuate them. Buchenwald's commandant ordered 28,000 people to be taken either by foot or train to other camps including Dachau, Flossenbuerg and the Theresienstadt ghetto. Although the exact number of people who perished in the death march is not known, at least 10,000 died of hunger, exhaustion or murder. In total, of the nearly one quarter-million people from all across Europe who entered the gates into Buchenwald between July 1937 until April 1945, some 56,000 died there as well.

A reunion last Sunday gathered more than 500 survivors of Buchenwald. It is considered to be the last 10-year anniversary for actual victims of the death camp since most will pass away before the next memorial ceremony.

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On May 10, a National Memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust will be dedicated in Berlin.

Interestingly, although many news media sources are reporting on the anniversaries of the liberation of concentration camps, the subject doesn't seem to get widespread and focused attention inside Germany. In a quick sampling of Der Spiegel, Deutsche Welle, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, I found a single story about Buchenwald. There may be more, but there doesn't seem to be any emphasis on the camps as part of German history. Others (see here, here, here, and here) have also apparently noticed that, inside Germany, reporting on the subject of the Holocaust is somewhat muted or missing.

We must never forget.