Weimar, Thuringia, Germany — Central Europe
In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army
Photographed By Jerry Klinger
1. In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army Marker
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this page online
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(Russian text not transcribed)
Erected 2023 by Buchenwald Memorial Foundation.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, World II. In addition, it is included in the The Holocaust series list. A significant historical date for this entry is April 11, 1945.
Location. 51° 1.181′ N, 11° 14.916′ E. Marker is in Weimar, Thüringen (Thuringia). Marker can be reached from Buchenwald. Adjacent to a former barracks outside the main entrance gate to Buchenwald. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Weimar TH 99427, Germany. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking
Photographed By Jerry Klinger, 2023
2. In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army Marker
Table memorial adjacent to former SS Barracks that was converted into a US field hospital.
Regarding In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army. First-ever memorial to the American forces that liberated Buchenwald.
1200 SS Troops guarded Buchenwald before the arrival of American forces. As the Americans approached, the SS fled, leaving only a tiny handful of SS holdouts. With the weakened SS presence, the semi-organized political prisoners in the camp grabbed the opportunity to rise in revolt using a few weapons they had secreted in the camp and took control. The Camp was turned over to the Americans by the controlling former prisoners of Buchenwald a few hours later.
The German narrative of Buchenwald's liberation is one of self-liberation. It is in direct opposition to the American view of Buchenwald's liberation.
Courtesy of Bernd Schmidt, 2023
3. In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army Marker
Marker being viewed.
Buchenwald and Germany have consistently refused to recognize the US army as the liberators of Buchenwald. The German Communist Party and its supporters are adamant about not recognizing the Americans.
The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation led the initiative for a modest American liberator's interpretive memorial in 2019 to be placed for the 75th anniversary of the Camp's liberation. After extensive review, the Camp's administrators, the Buchenwald Memorial Foundation, declined the proposal. Instead, they proposed a small table interpretive memorial with their approved text to be located behind the main flag pole entrance setting. The memorial was to be dedicated on April 5, 2020. The dedication was canceled due to Covid.
At the memorial's dedication on April 16, 2023, American Diplomatic representation, American Military representation, American Veteran organizations, and American Jewish and American Survivors organizations were absent. JASHP was not invited or told of the event.
The memorial was sited next to a former SS barracks. The barrack had been converted into an American field hospital
Photographed By Jerry Klinger, 2023
4. In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army Marker
Gate entrance to Buchenwald translates as "To Each Their Own."
Also see . . .
1. The Liberation of Buchenwald that Never Happened. Americans emphatically state American Armed Forces liberated the notorious Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The Germans say it never happened. The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) initiated and proposed an American Libertors’ Memorial for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Buchenwald. JASHP planned to fund the memorial. The Communists bitterly opposed it. Without knowing it, JASHP had stepped on a major political/historical landmine in Germany. (Submitted on April 17, 2023, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
2. Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
Buchenwald (German pronunciation: [ˈbuːxn̩valt]; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg [de] hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or suspected communists were among the first internees.(Submitted on April 17, 2023, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
Prisoners came from all over Europe and the Soviet Union—Jews, Poles and other Slavs, the mentally ill and physically disabled, political prisoners, Romani people, Freemasons, and prisoners of war. There were also ordinary criminals and sexual "deviants". All prisoners worked primarily as forced labor in local armaments factories. The insufficient food and poor conditions,as well as deliberate executions, led to 56,545 deaths at Buchenwald of the 280,000 prisoners who passed through the camp and its 139 subcamps.[1] The camp gained notoriety when it was liberated by the United States Army in April 1945; Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower visited one of its subcamps.Courtesy of Bernd Schmidt, 20235. In Memory of the Soldiers of the XX Corps of the US 3rd Army MarkerEntrance to Buchenwald.
From August 1945 to March 1950, the camp was used by the Soviet occupation authorities as an internment camp, NKVD special camp Nr. 2, where 28,455 prisoners were held and 7,113 of whom died. Today the remains of Buchenwald serve as a memorial and permanent exhibition and museum.
3. US Forces Liberate Buchenwald - US Holocaust Memorial Museum. In early April 1945, as US forces approached, the Germans began to evacuate some 28,000 prisoners from the Buchenwald main camp and an additional several thousand prisoners from the subcamps of Buchenwald. About a third of these prisoners died from exhaustion en route or shortly after arrival or were shot by the SS. The underground resistance organization in Buchenwald, whose members held key administrative posts in the camp, saved many lives. They obstructed Nazi orders and delayed the evacuation.
On April 11, 1945, in expectation of liberation, prisoners stormed the watchtowers, seizing control of the camp. Later that afternoon, US forces entered Buchenwald. Soldiers from the 6th Armored Division, part of the Third Army, found more than 21,000 people in the camp. (Submitted on April 17, 2023, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
4. The U.S. army liberates Buchenwald concentration camp.
On April 11, 1945, the American Third Army liberates the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, a camp that will be judged second only to Auschwitz in the horrors it imposed on its prisoners.(Submitted on April 17, 2023, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on April 23, 2023. It was originally submitted on April 17, 2023, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida. This page has been viewed 86 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on April 17, 2023, by Jerry Klinger of Boynton Beach, Florida. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
