Chronology of the Liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp, April 1945
In early April 1945 nearly 48,000 persons were imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp. In response to the fact that the U.S. Army had advanced as far as Gotha, the SS began evacuating the camp on April 7. Despite various delay tactics on the part of the inmates, the SS succeeded in sending some 28,000 on so-called death marches. The designation was justified: approximately one in three inmates died on the march or was shot to death by members of the SS, the Volkssturm (“People’s Militia) or the Hitler Youth.
On the basis of reports made by the committee of liberated camp inmates as well as by U.S. Army units, it has been possible to reconstruct the dramatic hours leading up to the end of SS rule of the camp:
April 10, 1945
6:00 pm |
9,280 inmates have left Buchenwald in the course of the day in two groups. The SS announces that the camp will be completely evacuated the following day. |
April 10, 1945
12:00 midnight |
Combat Team 9 is outside Grumbach and Wiegleben, 50 kilometres west of Buchenwald. This team is a sub-unit of Combat Command A of the 6th Armored Division of General Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. |
April 11, 1945
7:45 am |
Combat Command A (Combat Teams 9 and 15), consisting of the 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 15th Tank Battalion, the 86th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, the 993rd Engineer Treadway Bridge Company, the 25th Armored Engineer Battalion, the 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion and the 777th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, continues its military offensive toward the east. |
April 11, 1945
9:00 am |
Camp Senior Hans Eiden and Franz Eichhorn are ordered to the camp gate. Camp commander Hermann Pister announces the withdrawal of the SS and transfers authority over the camp to Eiden in the event of this withdrawal. |
April 11, 1945
9:50 am |
The 9th Armored Infantry Battalion (Combat Team 9) forces the enemy to retreat outside Udestedt, less than 20 kilometres from Buchenwald. |
Sergeant Paul Bodot, scout of the 4th Armored Division, in the jeep in which he reached Buchenwald at about 5:00 pm on April 11, 1945. | Unknown photographer, beginning of April 1945 | Association Française Buchenwald-Dora, Paris
April 11, 1945
10:00 am |
The “enemy alarm” siren goes off. The announcement “All members of the SS leave the camp immediately!” is made over the loudspeakers. |
April 11, 1945
10:30 am |
The international camp committee mobilizes the resistance groups and arms them with illegally obtained firearms, slashing and thrusting weapons. |
April 11, 1945
11:00 am |
American army infantry fire northwest of the camp. |
April 11, 1945
Around noon |
The members of the SS command staff flee the camp. The men occupying the watchtowers withdraw. |
April 11, 1945
1:00 pm |
Two American tanks approach from the direction of Hottelstedt. |
April 11, 1945
2:00 pm |
Heavy machine-gun fire at the northwestern end of the camp; twelve American tanks are sighted near the service courtyard. |
April 11, 1945
2:10 pm |
Four American tanks round the north end of the camp. |
April 11, 1945
2:15 pm |
Heavy combat between American troops and the SS to the west of the camp. |
April 11, 1945
2:30 pm |
American tanks of the 6th Armored Division reach the SS caserns and cross the casern and command areas without stopping. This event marks the military defeat of the SS, whose command over the camp is thus ended. |
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. | Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps, April 18, 1945 | National Archives, Washington
April 11, 1945
2:45 pm |
The armed resistance groups assemble outside barracks 3 and 4 downhill from the muster ground. The provisional commanders of the inmate camp order the occupation of the gate building. |
April 11, 1945
3:00 pm |
Otto Roth, commander of the military resistance groups, and two electricians enter the gate building by way of a ladder. They encounter one SS man, who flees, and a Wehrmacht soldier, who allows himself to be disarmed. They are followed by three further persons, including Camp Senior Hans Eiden. He raises the white flag, makes a short announcement over loudspeaker informing the camp of the situation and calling for the maintenance of discipline. |
April 11, 1945
Around 3:00 pm |
Following the combat-free occupation of the camp gate, the international resistance groups take control of the camp in the manner planned months in advance. They tear down the western gate and the fences, man the watchtowers and occupy the SS area without encountering resistance. |
April 11, 1945
4:00 pm |
The combat operations of the American army units in the greater vicinity of the camp have been concluded. At the same time, the inmate resistance groups have occupied all positions in the camp and captured 76 persons. |
April 11, 1945
4:45 pm |
A provisional board with representatives of ten nations convenes and resolves the formation of a camp council based on equal representation as well as committees to ensure survival. The camp senior makes a second loudspeaker announcement to the camp. |
April 11, 1945
4:50 pm |
Redeployment of armed inmates to protect the liberated camp. |
April 11, 1945
Around 5:00 pm |
A jeep carrying two members of the U.S. Army reaches the camp gate. Lieutenant Emmanuel Desard and Sergeant Paul Bodot – both Frenchmen – are scouts of the 4th Armored Division, which is stationed outside Arnstadt, 40 kilometres to the southwest. Lieutenant Desard officially transfers command of the camp to the camp senior. He reports to the staff of the 4th Armored Division what he and Bodot have found in Buchenwald: a liberated camp and armed and organized inmates. |
Inmates armed with rifles capturing SS men a few hours after the camp’s liberation. | Paul Bodot, April 11, 1945 | Association Française Buchenwald-Dora, Paris
April 11, 1945
Around 5.10 pm |
A reconnaissance unit of the 9th Infantry Battalion, a subdivision of Combat Team 9 of the 6th Armored Division, which has conducted the combat operations, enters the camp at the northern end. Captain Frederic Keffer, Sergeant Herbert Gottschalk, Sergeant Harry Ward and Private James Hoyt are greeted as liberators. Like Desard and Bodot they stay at Buchenwald only for a short time. |
| April 12, 1945 |
The city of Weimar is occupied by units of the 80th Infantry Division. Initial contact is made with the camp now under the command of the International Camp Committee. |
U.S. soldiers and former inmates in front of a lorry trailer loaded with corpses in the inner courtyard of the crematorium. | Ardean R. Miller, U.S. Signal Corps, April 18, 1945 | National Archives, Washington
April 13, 1945
11.30 am |
Lt. Colonel Edmund A. Ball of the 80th Infantry Division takes command of the camp; a company of the 317th Infantry Regiments is assigned to protect it. Ball meets with 21 representatives of the International Camp Committee, is briefed on the situation and decides what is to be done next. Following a memorial service in honour of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died the previous day, the inmates turn in their weapons. |
April 16, 1945
2:00 pm |
On the orders of General George S. Patton, who had inspected Buchenwald the previous day, 1,000 citizens of Weimar are taken on a tour of the concentration camp. Major Lorenz C. Schmuhl is appointed commanding officer of the camp. |
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. | Walter Chichersky, U.S. Signal Corps, April 16, 1945 | 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. | Walter Chichersky, U.S. Signal Corps, April 16, 1945 | National Archives Washington
| April 19, 1945 |
At a memorial service for the victims of Buchenwald Concentration Camp, a survivors’ pledge is read out: the Oath of Buchenwald. More than 400 inmates have died since the camp’s liberation. |
Liberated inmates at the first memorial service for the dead of Buchenwald Concentration Camp. There the survivors pledge: “We will only halt our struggle when the last perpetrator stands before the judges of the peoples! The extermination of Nazism with its roots is our slogan. The building of a new world of peace and freedom is our goal.” In the background is the temporary monument to the dead. | Donald R. Ornitz, U.S. Signal Corps, April 19, 1945 | National Archives Washington
