April 10, 1945: The Liberation of Buchenwald

For Memorial Day, here is an excerpt from my grandfather’s memoir, in which he describes the liberation of Buchenwald. Papaw Clark used to tell this and other stories over lunch–complete with photos–and to my classes at school, and to civic groups, and to anyone who would listen. The Holocaust was real, and we must never forget. Here is Pvt James R. Clark in his own words:

We jumped off early on 10 April 1945 and advanced north of the city, engaging in two or three fire fights as we encountered pockets of resistance. Then we lost contact with the enemy. About 10:00 a.m., we approached what appeared to be another slave labor camp. The machine gun guard towers did not return our fire and as we got closer, we could see prisoners at the fences. It was obvious that the German troops had fled. On entering this camp, we received the shock of our lives.

We had liberated the infamous Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Inside the camp, we found a cadre of slave laborers, who were killing and burning other prisoners. Later, we learned that they had been threatened by the departing Nazis, “If you quit burning them, we will come back and burn you.”

Buchenwald was not like any of the other prison camps we had encountered. First, it was much larger, containing 25,000 to 30,000 inmates. Second, it did not serve a useful purpose, as a slave labor or prisoner of war confinement camp. It was simply an extermination camp established in June of 1937 (only Dachau was older) by the Nazi Government as an emigration camp for German citizens and subjects who “voluntarily” donated all their possessions to the Nazis and agreed to emigrate to other countries. In the year 1938, the United States accepted a total of thirty-eight of them and the British Empire barred them all. Therefore, thousands were condemned to the gas chamber and lime pits.

This camp was commanded by a woman, Ilsa Koch, “the Bitch of Buchenwald.” In her office, we found polished skulls (adult and children) of various sizes used as paperweights, and lamp shades made of tattooed human skin on every desk. Also some tattooed skin had been stretched over boards and was used as wall hangings. You could almost see your reflection in the shiny skulls and the skin looked and felt like parchment.

Combat infantrymen are accustomed to gory scenes and death. Many times in battle, injury and death are instantaneous. It is not uncommon to come upon enemy soldiers in a state of decay, who were killed by bombs or artillery two or three weeks previously. But hardened as we were, nothing we had experienced before prepared us for the carnage we discovered at Buchenwald.

To restore order and stop the killing and burning, we had to use force, even to the point of shooting some of the slave laborers. After this was accomplished, we secured the area against a possible counterattack by the enemy. Then, we were able to observe the entire camp.

First we saw the living dead. These were human beings who had been systematically starved to the point of death. There was no flesh on their bodies, only skin stretched over bones that were visible. Their arms at the wrist were no larger than one and one-half inches in diameter and the heaviest person I saw was no more than three inches thick at the waist. Even their slightest movement required great effort, and many died as they stood by watching us as we patrolled the camp.

Then we entered the crematorium. It was the largest building in the camp. Inside we found a number of ovens, which contained partially burned bodies, charred bones, and ashes. Nearby there were stacks of bodies (some were still alive) and piles of ashes. In front of each oven was a metal table piled with bodies, ready to be shoved into the roaring fire. Being so badly dehydrated, we were told, they burned extremely fast and left very few ashes. There was every indication that the ovens had been in continuous use day and night, as our army approached, in order to destroy as much evidence as possible. A conservative estimate of the dead we saw that first day would be between 5,000 and 7,000. The figure released by the newspapers was much higher, but it probably included those who died after liberation.

Outside the crematorium, we saw the pits. The largest of these was eight to ten feet wide and about 200 feet long. It was partially filled with layers of bodies (living and dead), sprinkled with lime or a similar substance. Nearby were bodies stacked like cordwood, about five feet high, awaiting interment. Surprisingly, there was not the stench of death present because of the absence of flesh. There was a smell, but it was not overwhelming; it was somewhat like a wet animal on a hot day.

We were most impressed by the attitude of the inmates. In contrast to those liberated in prisoner of war and slave labor camps, these inmates showed absolutely no joy in being liberated. In fact, they, like the slave laborers, fully expected us (the United States Army) to continue operating the camp in the same manner as the German SS. After all, both the inmates and the cadre knew that we, the American people and the American Government, had been aware of their persecution for many years. The conditions inside the concentration camps and the murder of inmates were reported in U.S. newspapers as early as 1933. Also, President Roosevelt, in his instructions to Mr. William Dodd, ambassador designate to Germany, on 16 June 1933, is quoted as saying, “The German authorities are treating the Jews shamefully and the Jews in this country are greatly excited. But this is not a [United States] governmental affair. We can do nothing except for American citizens who happen to be made victims.” (Dodd’s Diary, first edition. [Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941] 5.)

The inmates of Buchenwald were calm and dignified, and even in their emaciated state, dressed in scant clothing or naked as many of them were, their composure was that of intelligent, civilized human beings. They did not beg, but graciously accepted that which was offered. We soon discovered that we could not give them anything to eat because their systems were too weak to tolerate even our K-ration cheese and crackers. Later in the day, our first medical corps units arrived and began feeding them a weak broth. The doctors and nurses did a remarkable job, saving about half of those who were alive when they arrived. We assisted by setting up cots and supplying blankets. The inmates had been sleeping on wooden slats without bedding and in unheated buildings for months, without medical attention of any kind.

General McBride ordered that everything (pits, stacks of bodies, ovens, lamp shades made of human skin, and the polished skulls) be left exactly as it was until the arrival of General Walton H. Walker, XX Corps commander. The following day (12 April 1945), we were relieved of duty at Buchenwald. Within hours after we left, General Patton and General Eisenhower conducted a contingent of United States Senators and Congressmen through Buchenwald so they could see with their own eyes the horror of the Holocaust!