Above: Weimar, Thuringia, Germany today: National Buchenwald Memorial near former concentration camp. Sculpture by Fritz Cremer. Photo licensed to WW2 History Network.  |   Buchenwald Photo Album by Erwin Leydekkers  |  VIDEO: WWII veteran recalls liberation of Buchenwald

Above: 1940: Newly arrived Polish prisoners undressing before they are washed and shaved. Photo within the Public Domain. Established in July, 1937, the concentration camp saw witness to the deaths of 55,465 by the SS. The camp was liberated on 4 April 1945 by the U.S. 89th Infantry Division.

On 12 April 1945, famed American journalist Edward R. Murrow gave one of his most moving accounts: "I asked to see one of the barracks. It happened to be occupied by Czechoslovaks. When I entered, men crowded around, tried to lift me to their shoulders. They were too weak. Many of them could not get out of bed. I was told that this building had once stabled 80 horses. There were 1,200 men in it, five to a bunk. The stink was beyond all description.

They called the doctor. We inspected his records. There were only names in the little black book, nothing more. Nothing about who these men were, what they had done, or hoped. Behind the names of those who had died, there was a cross. I counted them. They totaled 242. 242 out of 1,200, in one month.

As we walked out into the courtyard, a man fell dead. Two others, they must have been over 60, were crawling toward the latrine. I saw it, but will not describe it."<