#buchenwald

On April 11, 1945, the Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated by American forces. 

Pictured here are survivors from Buchenwald at the Haifa Port on the way to the Atlit Detention Camp (July, 1945). The little boy holding the flag is Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, emeritus Chief Rabbi of Israel! At 8 years old, Lau was one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald. His brother Naphtali (on the left) looked after him throughout the war and together they made it to Israel.

Soldiers from the sixth armored division of the United States armed forces liberated Buchenwald concentration camp. Nazi SS personnel had escaped from the camp earlier that morning. American soldiers under the command of General George Patton discovered to their horror 21,000 emaciated prisoners, 4000 of them Jews, including some of the most famous Holocaust survivors, whose testimony and untiring efforts have ensured the horrors of Nazi atrocities be indelibly engraved on humanity’s consciousness. Among them were Elli Wiesel, and emeritus chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. An estimated 70000 individuals were murdered in Buchenwald. Radio broadcaster Edward Murrow visited the camp a few days after its liberation, and described the appalling vision that met his eyes in one of the first eye-witness accounts of the Holocaust to reach Western ears. He signed off his broadcast as follows:

“I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it I have no words…. If I’ve offended you by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I’m not in the least sorry.”

TODAY'S FROZEN MOMENT - 80th Anniversary April 11th, 1945 - Four-year-old Joseph Schleifstein, on the day of the liberation of Buchenwald, having survived by being hidden by his father initially in a sack, and with the help of fellow prisoners, well fed and protected - literally the embodiment of hope - Two years from this day, in 1947, Joseph and the remainder of his family emigrated to America, where Joseph grew up, married and had children, to whom he never told one word of his experience... Then in 1999, when his story and photos were discovered by a historian, he was tracked down, and he finally opened up with an interview for a newspaper... now called "The Life Is Beautiful Child" (referring to the movie made about this)... And although he did have recurring nightmares and painful memories, he harbors no bitterness... "I think that hate destroys the hater," he said. Moving past bad things, evolving out of them, while never forgetting or forgiving evil, is the path of hope and light....

April 8th 1945 a prisoner at Buchenwald rigged up a radio transmitter and sent a message in a desperate attempt to contact the allies for rescue. 3 minutes after his message the US Army answered "KZ Bu. Hold out. Rushing to your aid. Staff of Third Army". The camp would be liberated 3 days later... 

On April 8, 1945, as Allied forces pushed deeper into Nazi Germany, prisoners inside the Buchenwald concentration camp carried out an extraordinary and dangerous act of resistance. Using a secretly assembled radio transmitter, inmates sent a desperate message pleading for immediate rescue. Against overwhelming odds, their signal reached American forces. Just minutes later, they received a reply: “KZ Bu. Hold out. Rushing to your aid. Staff of Third Army.” Three days later, U.S. troops arrived and liberated the camp.

Buchenwald held more than 250,000 prisoners from over 30 countries during its operation, and an estimated 56,000 people died there from starvation, disease, forced labor, and executions. Unknown to many, prisoners inside the camp had organized an underground resistance network that secretly gathered intelligence, sabotaged operations, and helped protect children and weaker inmates.

By the time liberation came on April 11, 1945, the resistance inside Buchenwald had already begun seizing control of parts of the camp, preventing further executions as Allied troops approached. The radio message remains one of the most remarkable examples of prisoner-led resistance and the unbreakable human drive toward survival and freedom.

When U.S. forces liberated Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, they discovered more than 21,000 surviving prisoners, including over 900 children and teenagers. Many of those children had been secretly hidden and protected by fellow inmates within the camp’s resistance network, a coordinated effort that saved hundreds of young lives in the final months of the war.

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