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April 11, 2012
Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated on April 11, 1945
looking out at the administration building outside the camp; the sign on the gate can only be read from the inside. In English, it means "To Each his Own," or "Everyone gets what he deserves." --Old photos taken after Buchenwald was liberated by US Third Army
Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 11, 2012 7:55 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
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Buchenwald stands today as a museum of sorts. I visited it 20 years ago. At least one aspect of that visit is still burned in my memory.
Outside of the main buildings were tiny plots of land, perhaps 15' by 30', each containing a small plaque marking the plot as a mass grave containing remains of victims of the camp. The number of remains for each plot listed was, as I racall, from about 1,500 at the low end to near 15,000 at the high end. It was mass murder on an industrial scale. It is difficult to describe the impact of standing among those graves. It was as close as I ever hope to come to witnessing pure evil that was, at once, incomprehensible in its scope, yet wholly stark in its reality.
Posted by: GW at April 11, 2012 10:04 AM
As I recall, the liberating soldiers summarily executed some of those concentration camp guards.
I hope they were shown the words on that gate immediately before being shot.
Posted by: pst314 at April 11, 2012 11:31 AM
I didn't think they could get more ironic than "Arbeit Macht Frei".
Posted by: Rich Fader at April 11, 2012 1:04 PM