Citizens of Weimar in the Camp
In the crematorium courtyard, U.S. soldiers confront citizens of Weimar with the dead bodies which had been found there, April 16, 1945
Visiting the Camp
On April 16th, 1,000 citizens of Weimar – in keeping with an order of General Patton, mainly members of the NSDAP – had to visit the liberated camp.
16 April 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.
Armed with a camera, Signal Corps photographer Walter Chichersky documented their trip on foot from Weimar to the ovens in the Buchenwald Crematorium.
News correspondents from all over the world visited the camp and made verbal and visual records of the conditions there. Throughout the rest of April and well into May, they were joined by a seemingly endless stream of delegations of the International Red Cross, the American Congress, the British parliament, American publishers and individual public figures.
