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Liberation

An American soldier and liberated prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Austria, May 1945.

An American soldier and liberated prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Austria, May 1945. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Videos

  • George was liberated by the American forces in May 1945. He had spent three years during the war in ten different concentration camps. In 1945 he was in the Woebbelin camp in Germany. After liberation, he spent over two years in various displaced persons camps. George emigrated to the United States in October 1947.

  • Watch a story about how a teacher fellow from the Museum reunited Jewish prisoners with US Army soldiers who liberated them from a train near Magdeburg, Germany, on April 13, 1945.

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Documenting the Path of American Liberators: D-Day (June, 1944)Close

—US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Documenting the Path of American Liberators: Remagen/Crossing the Rhine (March, 1945) Close

—US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Documenting the Path of American Liberators: Nuremberg (April, 1945) Close

—US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Documenting the Path of American Liberators: Liberation of Allied POWs (May, 1945) Close

—US Holocaust Memorial Museum

George Salton describes liberation by American forcesClose

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George was liberated by the American forces in May 1945. He had spent three years during the war in ten different concentration camps. In 1945 he was in the Woebbelin camp in Germany. After liberation, he spent over two years in various displaced persons camps. George emigrated to the United States in October 1947. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Honoring LiberationClose

Watch a story about how a teacher fellow from the Museum reunited Jewish prisoners with US Army soldiers who liberated them from a train near Magdeburg, Germany, on April 13, 1945. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

On June 6, 1944 (known as D-Day), the western Allies launched the single largest amphibious invasion force in world history, landing almost 150,000 soldiers under the command of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the beaches of Normandy, France. By the end of the month, more than 850,000 American, British, and Canadian troops had come ashore to embark upon what Eisenhower called the “Great Crusade,” the “destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.”

On June 22, 1944, Soviet forces opened a major offensive that crushed the German forces defending the center of the eastern front in western Belorussia, sweeping the line of the front into central Poland by early August.

As Allied and Soviet troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they encountered concentration camps, mass graves, and numerous other sites of Nazi crimes. Soviet forces were the first to overrun a major Nazi concentration camp, Lublin/Majdanek, near Lublin, Poland, in July 1944. On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, where they discovered some 7,000 prisoners, including young children, who had not been evacuated by the SS. American soldiers, too, witnessed evidence of the Holocaust and Nazi atrocities as they marched into the interior of Germany, liberating the major concentration camps such as Buchenwald, Dachau, and Mauthausen as well as hundreds of subcamps, including Ohrdruf (a subcamp of Buchenwald). Though the liberation of Nazi camps was not a primary objective of the Allied military campaign, US, British, Canadian, and Soviet troops freed prisoners from their SS guards, provided them with food and badly needed medical support, and collected evidence for war crimes trials.

On May 8, 1945, less than one year after D-Day, Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender became official, and the world could celebrate the liberation of Europe from Nazi rule.

In 2004, with the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the nation honored veterans of World War II with a memorial on the national mall. Explore the links on this page to learn about the liberators' experiences as Allied troops moved across Europe during the war.

To honor American liberators, print liberation division histories and insignia.

I didn't know what to make of it. I knew I was free, but I didn't count on it. I somehow didn't know what it meant. And I knew it was great, but I, I was overjoyed because all people around me were overjoyed and were singing and dancing and, and...but I, I was 17. I, I was free, but what it meant I wasn't sure.

—George Salton

Did you know?

  • As Allied troops moved across Europe, they encountered concentration camps, mass graves, and numerous other sites of Nazi crimes. However, the liberation of Nazi camps was not a primary objective of the Allied military campaign.
  • Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp, reaching Majdanek near Lublin, Poland, in July 1944.
  • Disease remained an ever-present danger and liberators had to burn down many of the camps to prevent the spread of epidemics.
  • Though most American GIs did not have access to a camera, some did and took their own photos as they encountered the camps and other sites of atrocities.

Related Articles and Information

  • Holocaust Encyclopedia article—Liberation of Nazi Camps
  • Holocaust Encyclopedia article—Which US Army units liberated concentration camps?
  • Holocaust Encyclopedia article—D-Day
  • Holocaust Encyclopedia article—Death Marches
  • Holocaust Encyclopedia article—11th Armoured Division (Great Britain)
  • Holocaust Encyclopedia article—2nd Canadian Division
  • Photo Archives—World War II Liberation Photography: Learning about Photographs You May Have in Your Home

Other Resources

  • Special Focus—Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of Liberation
  • Special Focus—Liberation of Auschwitz
  • Bibliography—Liberators
  • Days of Remembrance 2005—From Liberation to the Pursuit of Justice
  • USC Shoah Foundation Institute—Witnesses for Change: Stories of Liberation (external link)

Honor American liberators

Find out more about liberating unit division histories and insignia

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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2126
Main telephone: 202.488.0400
TTY: 202.488.0406

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