APRIL 29, 1945
Liberation
As Allied Forces moved toward the German front, the Germans began moving prisoners to areas farther from the front, so there would not be mass liberation of prisoners. On this mass exodus of prisoners the conditions and treatment got worse, especially with food and rest. Many prisoners got typhus fever and died on the way to the new camps. The outbreak of typhus was caused by the poor sanitary conditions, overcrowding, and the weakness of the prisoners.
On April 26, 1945 the American troops approached Dachau, but many prisoners were already on the death march to Tegernesse. There were 67,665 prisoners registered at the camp, but only 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were on the death march. On April 29,1945 Dachau was officially liberated. Near Dachau, the American Soldiers found over 30 train cars filled with bodies. As they approached the gates there were a few remaining German soldiers that were ordered to stay behind in order to fulfill surrender agreements.
When the American soldiers found the people the condition was described as, "thousands of ragged skeletons, in the yard, in the trees, waving little rags, climbing over one another, hysterical, completely out of control," (USHMM). The American soldiers lined up the remaining German soldiers, made them strip down and sent guard dogs after them. Of the 67,665 prisoners registered approximately 32,000 prisoners were liberated. After the German soldiers were "neutralized" the prisoners were cared for. The dead were buried, the sick were cared for and sent to the hospital, the rest were rationed food carefully because they had been so starved they needed to intake food slowly so they wouldn't get more sick.
After the freed prisoners were being cared for the soldiers went through the German files and discovered the extreme medical experiments performed and the camp was described as a laboratory (USHMM).
On April 26, 1945 the American troops approached Dachau, but many prisoners were already on the death march to Tegernesse. There were 67,665 prisoners registered at the camp, but only 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were on the death march. On April 29,1945 Dachau was officially liberated. Near Dachau, the American Soldiers found over 30 train cars filled with bodies. As they approached the gates there were a few remaining German soldiers that were ordered to stay behind in order to fulfill surrender agreements.
When the American soldiers found the people the condition was described as, "thousands of ragged skeletons, in the yard, in the trees, waving little rags, climbing over one another, hysterical, completely out of control," (USHMM). The American soldiers lined up the remaining German soldiers, made them strip down and sent guard dogs after them. Of the 67,665 prisoners registered approximately 32,000 prisoners were liberated. After the German soldiers were "neutralized" the prisoners were cared for. The dead were buried, the sick were cared for and sent to the hospital, the rest were rationed food carefully because they had been so starved they needed to intake food slowly so they wouldn't get more sick.
After the freed prisoners were being cared for the soldiers went through the German files and discovered the extreme medical experiments performed and the camp was described as a laboratory (USHMM).
Personal Stories
S. Sgt John Petro (US soldier)
His story, as told by his son, Bill Petro:
"My father had seen a lot of action up to this point in the war. But nothing he had seen so far prepared him for what he saw at Dachau. Buchenwald was the first camp liberated. When General Eisenhower visited there he vomited. Dachau was worse... My father said that he watched his commanders vomit when they saw what had happened at the camp. The horror. "My lieutenant lost it" he told me. The smell of death was overwhelming... General Eisenhower later reported, `Our forces liberated and mopped up the infamous concentration camp at Dachau. Approximately 32,000 prisoners were liberated; 300 SS camp guards were quickly neutralized' (Petro)."
Abraham Lewent (prisoner)
“I remember, I was laying down. This guy says "Oh my God, what a sight." [crying]. A sight. They start picking up the people. They picked them up one by one. Most of them were dead because they couldn't...and...the less that were alive they put them in trucks and jeeps, and they took them to hospitals or they made tents and they put them in. They gave them water. They gave them packets from the Red Cross. And this was bad too because people when they got those packages, there was powdered milk, there was chocolate, there was a can of meat, and they were so hungry, they didn't care, and they ate it. So hundreds died from eating this stuff, because their stomach was not used to food. And I had a guy next to me, I don't know if he was a doctor once or something--he was half dead too... When he got that package, and I think he was Hungarian or Romanian, he says to me, "Don't eat nothing. Don't eat nothing. If you going to eat anything, you going to die. The only thing you do, if you have sugar, take the sugar in the mouth and suck on the sugar. That's the only thing you should do," he says, "the rest of them throw away. And if you want to keep it, keep it, but don't eat anything. Don't take the milk in your mouth. Don't take the chocolate. Don't take the meat"--because they used to give you a can of meat, Spam--"Don't eat it, because if you're going to eat it, you're going to die." And that's what happened. Those people, they eat the stuff, they got diarrhea and they died” (USHMM).
Abraham Klausner (US Soldier)
"Well, I came into Dachau at night, and I saw nothing except the main square coming through the big gates. And of course, I waited for the morning quite anxiously and when morning came, I walked through the barbed-wire gates into the barracks area, and selected one of the barracks. I entered it and there met the first of the survivors. It was a difficult experience for me because I was not confident that I could serve a purpose. I had nothing to offer. I had nothing to give. People needed amenities, needed attention of various kinds, and I had nothing. But nevertheless, there I was in Dachau and I felt I had to do something, and so I entered the barracks and stood there, terribly disturbed. Here we were in a period of liberation and the people were still in barracks, stretched out on shelves. There were three rows of shelves, nothing other than the shelves. There wasn't a ... a piece of linen of any kind. There wasn't a bar of soap. There wasn't a chair, place to sit down. It was just a, a dirty situation and here were the people either stretched out on the shelves or moving about listlessly. Paid no attention to me as if I didn't exist. No one came towards me to say, "Welcome," or, "What is it you want." They just, uh...I was just an apparition (USHMM)."
His story, as told by his son, Bill Petro:
"My father had seen a lot of action up to this point in the war. But nothing he had seen so far prepared him for what he saw at Dachau. Buchenwald was the first camp liberated. When General Eisenhower visited there he vomited. Dachau was worse... My father said that he watched his commanders vomit when they saw what had happened at the camp. The horror. "My lieutenant lost it" he told me. The smell of death was overwhelming... General Eisenhower later reported, `Our forces liberated and mopped up the infamous concentration camp at Dachau. Approximately 32,000 prisoners were liberated; 300 SS camp guards were quickly neutralized' (Petro)."
Abraham Lewent (prisoner)
“I remember, I was laying down. This guy says "Oh my God, what a sight." [crying]. A sight. They start picking up the people. They picked them up one by one. Most of them were dead because they couldn't...and...the less that were alive they put them in trucks and jeeps, and they took them to hospitals or they made tents and they put them in. They gave them water. They gave them packets from the Red Cross. And this was bad too because people when they got those packages, there was powdered milk, there was chocolate, there was a can of meat, and they were so hungry, they didn't care, and they ate it. So hundreds died from eating this stuff, because their stomach was not used to food. And I had a guy next to me, I don't know if he was a doctor once or something--he was half dead too... When he got that package, and I think he was Hungarian or Romanian, he says to me, "Don't eat nothing. Don't eat nothing. If you going to eat anything, you going to die. The only thing you do, if you have sugar, take the sugar in the mouth and suck on the sugar. That's the only thing you should do," he says, "the rest of them throw away. And if you want to keep it, keep it, but don't eat anything. Don't take the milk in your mouth. Don't take the chocolate. Don't take the meat"--because they used to give you a can of meat, Spam--"Don't eat it, because if you're going to eat it, you're going to die." And that's what happened. Those people, they eat the stuff, they got diarrhea and they died” (USHMM).
Abraham Klausner (US Soldier)
"Well, I came into Dachau at night, and I saw nothing except the main square coming through the big gates. And of course, I waited for the morning quite anxiously and when morning came, I walked through the barbed-wire gates into the barracks area, and selected one of the barracks. I entered it and there met the first of the survivors. It was a difficult experience for me because I was not confident that I could serve a purpose. I had nothing to offer. I had nothing to give. People needed amenities, needed attention of various kinds, and I had nothing. But nevertheless, there I was in Dachau and I felt I had to do something, and so I entered the barracks and stood there, terribly disturbed. Here we were in a period of liberation and the people were still in barracks, stretched out on shelves. There were three rows of shelves, nothing other than the shelves. There wasn't a ... a piece of linen of any kind. There wasn't a bar of soap. There wasn't a chair, place to sit down. It was just a, a dirty situation and here were the people either stretched out on the shelves or moving about listlessly. Paid no attention to me as if I didn't exist. No one came towards me to say, "Welcome," or, "What is it you want." They just, uh...I was just an apparition (USHMM)."
James Rose (US soldier)
"We were marching to... we were chasing the Germans. It was getting close to the end of the war, and the date was April 29, 1945. A sergeant come up and told us all, "Check your gas masks. We are going into a town that they think has a gas dump that's mined." So when we proceeded to this town, it was Dachau, and part of our division, the 222nd Regiment, had troops in the camp liberating the camp. And the time that we come to the gate of the camp, they opened the compound and I seen thousands of people crowding out that looked like skeletons with skin stretched on them. They were dirty, they smelled, and just one look at them, some of them half dead, something happened that we realized that this war was all about, we know now why we were participating in this war (USHMM)."
"We were marching to... we were chasing the Germans. It was getting close to the end of the war, and the date was April 29, 1945. A sergeant come up and told us all, "Check your gas masks. We are going into a town that they think has a gas dump that's mined." So when we proceeded to this town, it was Dachau, and part of our division, the 222nd Regiment, had troops in the camp liberating the camp. And the time that we come to the gate of the camp, they opened the compound and I seen thousands of people crowding out that looked like skeletons with skin stretched on them. They were dirty, they smelled, and just one look at them, some of them half dead, something happened that we realized that this war was all about, we know now why we were participating in this war (USHMM)."