Buchenwald Not Actually Liberated by Americans

The article “Buchenwald Commemorates Liberation Anniversary” by RJ* published in Halo Noviny on April 14 carried incorrect information, and I think it is necessary to set the record straight. The author claimed, contrary to reality, that Buchenwald was liberated in April 1945 by the U.S. Army. I most firmly protest that statement.

The liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp came about through the resistance of prisoners on April 11, 1945, under the leadership of the International Camp Committee (a cooperative effort of Belgian, German, French, Italian, Polish, Soviet and Czech anti-fascists), which had already begun to build a military organization for self-defense in 1943. It organized weapons and ammunition from SS supplies and stored them in a secure location.** Components were smuggled from a production site for carbines at a plant in Gustloff and Soviet prisoners produced Molotov cocktails, etc.

This prison military organization was prepared to protect inmates from being liquidated preceding destruction of the camp, which was expected to take place ahead of the arrival of Allied forces. As the U.S. Army approached, armed groups of prisoners attacked the main gate, cut off electricity to the barbed wire surrounding the camp, and occupied the watch towers. At 3:15 p.m., Hans Eiden announced, “Comrades, we are free!” which applied to 20,000 prisoners. Armed inmates took about 220 members of the SS captive, as well as other Nazis, who they later handed over to the Americans. The first Americans arrived around 5 p.m.: Lt. Emmanuel Desard and Sgt. Paul Bodot, who belonged to the U.S. 4th Armored Division. Their unit was deployed to the southern part of the camp; other American units arrived at Buchenwald after them.

On April 19, 1945, liberated prisoners formulated the Buchenwald Oath in several languages, ending with these words: “If anything has kept us alive, it has been the thought: The day of vengeance will come!*** … [T]he fight is not yet over. The Hitler flags still fly. The murderers of our comrades still live. The sadistic torturers still run free. Therefore, we swear on the camp square, on these sites of fascist atrocities, before the whole world: We will only cease our fight once the last guilty party faces the judges of the nations. Our motto is the extirpation of Nazism and its very roots. Our goal is to build a new world – a world of peace and freedom. That is our duty to those murdered and to their families. As a sign of our determination in this fight: WE SWEAR!”

That oath remains to this day the political legacy of anti-fascist organizations from more than 20 countries in Europe and in Israel, which overarches the International Federation of Resistance Fighters, of which the Czech League of Freedom Fighters is also a member.

The author, Jitka Gruntova, is the daughter of Buchenwald prisoner #35,139, member of the Czech League of Freedom Fighters.

*Editor’s note: RJ is believed to refer to columnist Roman Janouch.

**Editor’s note: “SS” refers to the Schutzstaffel, a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.

***Translator’s note: This first sentence actually comes in the middle of the oath, and some of the text has been omitted.