“Indescribable Horror”: When Eisenhower Witnessed the Holocaust

American soldiers were unprepared for what they discovered in the Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany in April 1945: piles of bodies, walking skeletons on the verge of death, and other unspeakable horrors. This shocking discovery prompted Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower to visit and bear witness to the atrocities himself. He was deeply affected by what he saw—and, even then, he anticipated a future when these crimes might be denied. 

Eighty years later, learn why Eisenhower’s visit to Ohrdruf was a critical moment in documenting and protecting the truth of the Holocaust.