The Holocaust: Kate Dicken
Q&A
How did the US Soldiers come across these concentration camps?
On April 5, 1945, units from the American Fourth Armored Division of the Third Army were the first Americans to discover a camp with prisoners and corpses. Ohrdruf was a Buchenwald sub-camp, and of the 10,000 male slave inmates, many had been sent on death marches, shot in pits, or their corpses were stacked in the woods and burned. The Americans found the camp by accident – they did not set out to liberate camps, they happened upon them – and found starved, frail bodies of hundreds of prisoners who had managed to survive, as well as the corpses. In Nordhausen, on the 11th, the American Timberwolf Division found 3,000 corpses and 700 starving, ill, and war-wounded survivors who were slaves in the V-2 rocket factories.
"U.S. Army and the Holocaust." Home | Jewish Virtual Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20242.html>.
Did the U.S. government know about the concentration camps?
The U.S clearly did not know the extent of loss of life in concentration camps in Europe. (Zirin, West Stood By)
If the U.S really knew every detail about Hitler and his Final Solution they would have done everything in their power to stop the mass killings. Also if other U.S citizens knew they would try to rally and get FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) to take action. If people did rally something would have been done. Regardless how FDR felt. His duty was to do what’s best for his country, and many others believe he did the best he could.
"Concentration Camps." ThinkQuest : Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02216/concentration_camps.html>.
What evidence is there to prove the US did not know?
Picture Citations:
"Wisconsin Historical Images - 02 - Map of Concentration Camps in Germany, WHi-44248." Wisconsin Historical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullimage.asp?id=44248>.
""Work Makes You Free" Dechau Concentration Camp | Flickr - Photo Sharing!." Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/brookeemilys
"Concentration Camps | Imperial War Museums." Imperial War Museums. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013. <http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/concentration-camps>.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohrdruf_concentration_camp
http://www.saveyourheritage.com/nazi_concentration_camps.htm