Historical photos of the Buchenwald concentration camp

Inmates armed with rifles capturing SS men a few hours after the camp’s liberation,11/4/1945.
Photo: Paul Bodot. ©Association Française Buchenwald-Dora, Paris

Sergeant Paul Bodot, Frenchman, officer of a reconnaissance troop of the 6th Armored Division of the 3rd U.S. Army, in the jeep in which he arrived in Buchenwald on April 11, 1945 as one of the first American soldiers to reach the camp, beginning of April 1945. Photo: Unknown photographer. ©Association Française Buchenwald-Dora, Paris

Three liberated children standing by a barbed-wire fence of the Little Camp with an older inmate, after April 11. 1945. Photo: U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

View of the muster ground from the gate building tower, April 14, 1945. Photo: Walter Chichersky, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

On April 16, more than 1,000 citizens of Weimar – in keeping with General Patton’s orders primarily members of the Nazi party – are forced to tour the liberated camp.
Photo: Walter Chichersky, U.S. Signal Corps, April 16, 1945. National Archives, Washington

In the crematorium courtyard, U.S. soldiers confront the citizens of Weimar with the corpses found there. This was the first photo of Buchenwald to be published; it appeared in the London Times on April 18, 1945, April 16, 1945. Photo: Walter Chichersky, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Liberated inmates of Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Barrack 56 of the Little Camp. Standing, at right: Simon Toncman. 2nd row, 7th fr. l.: Elie Wiesel, April 16, 1945. Photo: Harry Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

U.S. soldiers in front of the camp gate. SS ammunition boxes and hand grenades in the foreground. The black flag on the gate building flies at half-mast in mourning over the death of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

View of the camp from the gate building. Liberated inmates and U.S. soldiers are seen standing on the muster ground. In the background, to the far right, is the camp storage building.
Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps, April 18, 1945. National Archives, Washington

Liberated inmates on the camp road, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

U.S. soldiers and former inmates in front of a trailer loaded with corpses in the inner courtyard of the crematorium, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Two American soldiers in front of a trailer loaded with corpses in the inner courtyard of the crematorium. In the background a liberated inmate, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Liberated Little Camp inmates talking to American soldiers, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

A liberated inmate in front of a heap of bones in the inner courtyard of the crematorium, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Emaciated inmate with a food bowl in front of a wooden barrack in the Little Camp, April 18, 1945. Photo: Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Jewish worship service in the cinema barrack for the survivors of Buchenwald Concentration Camp, May 18, 1945. Photo: Charles W. Herr, Jr., U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Liberated inmates on the muster ground, attending the first memorial service for the dead of Buchenwald Concentration Camp. There the liberated inmates pledge not to rest until “the last perpetrator stands before the judges of the peoples”. In the background is a temporary monument to the dead, April 19, 1945. Photo: Donald R. Ornitz, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

American congresspersons touring the crematorium. Senator Alben W. Barkley is looking into one of the crematorium ovens, April 24, 1945. Photo: Merge, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Publishers and editors of American newspapers tour the inner courtyard of the crematorium during their visit to the liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp. 4th fr. l.: the former Austrian inmate Kurt Gatnar, who is guiding the group through the camp, April 25, 1945. Photo: Louis Nemeth, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Four adolescent inmates, naked from the waist up, in front of one of the stone barracks, mid May 1945. Photo: Alfred Stüber. ©Gedenkstätte Buchenwald

A group of Jewish adolescents at Buchenwald Station before their departure from the liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp, June 5, 1945. Photo: James E. Myers, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Close-up view of a lorry trailer loaded with the corpses of deceased inmates in the inner courtyard of the crematorium, April 16, 1945. Photo: Walter Chichersky, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

The American congressman Senator Alben W. Barkley in front of a heap of corpses in the inner courtyard of the crematorium, April 24, 1945. Photo: Merge, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Inmate survivor talking to three members of the delegation of American congresspersons, April 24, 1945. Photo: Merge, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

Members of the “Allied War Crimes Commission” touring the camp during their visit to the liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp, April 26, 1945. Photo: Louis Nemeth, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington

American congresswoman in one of the inmate barracks during her tour of the liberated Buchenwald Concentration Camp, April 24, 1945. Photo: Merge, U.S. Signal Corps. ©National Archives, Washington