In early April 1945, as World War II neared its end, General George S. Patton’s Third Army advanced deeper into Germany. During this push, American troops discovered one of the first Nazi concentration camps they would ever see with their own eyes: Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the larger Buchenwald complex.
What the soldiers found there shocked them beyond words.
The camp was filled with piles of dead bodies, many of which had been shot, starved, or tortured. The corpses lay scattered around huts and open grounds, showing clear signs of extreme abuse and neglect. The prisoners who were still alive were emaciated, skeletal, and barely able to move. Their physical condition was so severe that it defied imagination.
The camp also contained crematoriums, torture devices, and places clearly used for brutal punishments. Even hardened soldiers—men who had fought intense battles across Europe—were shaken to their core. General Patton himself, known for his toughness, was so horrified that he turned away to vomit.
Eisenhower’s Order: The World Must See This
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, arrived soon after. He immediately understood the historical importance of the moment. Eisenhower insisted that as many people as possible witness the atrocities firsthand.
He ordered:
- American soldiers from nearby units to visit the camp, so they could never deny or forget what they saw.
- Journalists and photographers to document everything, creating undeniable evidence of Nazi crimes.
- Local German civilians, especially from the nearby city of Weimar, to be brought to the camp. These residents had lived only a few miles away but claimed ignorance of what was happening.
Many Germans were forced to walk through the camp and confront the scenes of horror. Some fainted. Some cried. Others refused to look. But Eisenhower was firm: the truth had to be seen.
His fear was that one day people would downplay or deny the Holocaust. He famously said:
“Get it all on record now — get the films — get the witnesses — because somewhere down the road history will claim that this never happened.”
The Impact
The liberation of Ohrdruf became one of the first powerful proofs of the Holocaust presented to the world. The images and reports that emerged helped expose the full scale of the Nazi genocide and ensured that these crimes could never be erased from history.
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