MANAGING THE CAMP - Buchenwald Memorial

The American interim camp commander Major Lorenz C. Schmuhl (seated, right) speaking with representatives of the International Camp Committee (including former German prisoner Walter Bartel, fourth from right, next to the Frenchman Maurice Jattefaux), around 24 April 1945. Photo: Thérèse Bonney ©The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

The French liaison officer Sonia Vagliano describes the co-operation between Schmuhl’s successor, the American camp commander Captain Peter Ball, and the International Camp Committee:

“The internal administration of Buchenwald turns out to be simpler than expected because we are able to maintain the previous arrangement for the running of the camp. Captain Ball summons the twenty-seven Communist representatives of different nationalities from Block 40 and tells them they should continue operating as before, but now, of course, under the supervision of the Americans. This will continue as long as there is no political agitation or discrimination. Food distribution, lodging, sanitation, record keeping, and surveillance all fall under their responsibility. Taking over a camp already efficiently organized saves us many headaches – but we acquire many others.”

Sonia Vagliano Eloy, Lieutenant Sonia Vagliano. A Memoir of the World War II Refugee Crisis, Lexington 2022 [Paris 1982].

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Liberated prisoners distributing food, after 28 April 1945. After liberation, the camp administration was faced with many challenges, including procuring food and repairing the damaged water supply. Photo: William Garrison Birch ©United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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“Displaced Persons Center” sign above “Blood Road” (Blutstrasse), the access road to the camp, after 10 May 1945. Photo: Alfred Stüber ©Buchenwald Memorial

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View from the camp gate to the former camp headquarters building with the American flag raised, after 13 April 1945. The camp headquarters served as the American camp administration office until early July 1945. Photo: Alfred Stüber ©Buchenwald Memorial

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A member of the French repatriation commission speaking with a Belgian soldier in the camp headquarters building, around 24 April 1945. Most countries sent commissions to Buchenwald to organise the return of the survivors. Photo: Thérèse Bonney ©The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

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Maurice Jattefaux, a member of the International Camp Committee (ICC), at a desk in the camp headquarters building, around 24 April 1945. The ICC, in cooperation with the American commander, was responsible for preparing the survivors’ identity papers, among other things. Photo: Thérèse Bonney ©The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

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Medics and members of the U.S. Army on a bench in front of the camp headquarters building, around 24 April 1945. Third from left: Colonel William E. Williams, commanding officer of the 120th Evacuation Hospital, which was responsible for providing initial medical care to the survivors. Photo: Thérèse Bonney ©The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Among the liberated were thousands of critically ill and emaciated men and boys. Saving them was a matter of priority in the days and weeks after liberation. The military doctors and paramedics of the 120th and 45th Evacuation Hospitals of the U.S. Army were primarily responsible for providing urgent medical care. They worked side by side with survivors who were also trained doctors and nurses. The SS hospital, as well as a few SS guard barracks, served as improvised emergency hospitals. Most of the survivors housed there came from the Little Camp.