Post-Holocaust Buchenwald
The tragic events that occurred at Buchenwald, from its terrible living and working conditions with little and inadequate rations to its people in power killing thousands of prisoners over the years of Buchenwald’s operation, will not be forgotten. Today, Buchenwald remains a ghost of what it once was, a memorial to all those who suffered and died there. It is a mostly open field with patches of crumbled asphalt with several buildings on the outskirts near its tree line (Map of Buchenwald Memorial). And while the site itself seems peaceful now, there still lies great anguish and controversy surrounding Buchenwald. On April 14, 1985, thousands of people commemorated the liberation of Buchenwald, but not the liberation by the United States; instead, the crowd of East Germans, Russians from the Soviet Union, and other Europeans gathered to discredit the idea of the United States saving the camp, instead claiming they liberated the camp and were the only prisoner liberated the camp. The thousands of Jewish deaths, however, were not mentioned by this crowd. Other former prisoners of the camp, namely Walter Bartel, said this was not the case, and that the majority of the camp was grateful for the Americans coming (Tagliabue 1). Of course, this was during the cold war and was likely trying to be used as propaganda by the Soviet Union to undermine the United States.
In contrast, at another commemoration of liberation, this time with Jews and people all nationalities, in 2015, survivors of Buchenwald gathered to remember the hard times they went through and who they lost. Flowers were placed at Buchenwald for the 56,000 people that died there. They remembered the liberation much differently, with Survivor Henry Oster, a German Jew, saying this:
"We had no idea the Allies were in Europe. When we heard noises at about 15:30, we looked out of the window, which took a great effort," he said.
"One of my friends said with a weak voice, 'I think we are getting liberated'. We thought he had lost his sense of reality like so many people there."
A former United States Army medic, James Anderson recalled the event as well, saying “The devastation was so tremendous. The prisoners were so glad to see us, they would hug us and everything.” (“Buchenwald Camp Survivors Mark 70 Years since Liberation” 1)
While Buchenwald today is mostly silent and serves a memorial to all those who died within its walls, there is still unresolved tension between its prisoners and their view on what really happened inside Buchenwald.