What Israel Learned from Eisenhower’s First Visit to a Concentration Camp

When General Dwight D. Eisenhower visited a German concentration camp for the first time, he was unprepared for the Nazi brutality he had witnessed. Bodies were piled like wood and living skeletons struggled to survive.

Eisenhower wrote in his autobiography, Crusade in Europe:

I have never felt able to describe my emotional reactions when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency… I am certain, however that I have never at any other time experienced an equal sense of shock… I visited every nook and cranny of the camp because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at first-hand about these things in case there ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda… Of all these displaced persons, the Jews were in the most deplorable condition. For years they had been beaten, starved, and tortured.

That evening, Eisenhower sent communications to Washington and London, urging the two governments to promptly send to Germany a group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. Foreseeing the possibility that some would deny the reality of the Holocaust, he strongly felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for doubt.

The barbarous treatment these people received in the German concentration camps is almost unbelievable. I want you to see for yourself and be spokesmen for the United States.

He immediately had soldiers and photographers take pictures of the horrid scenes of Nazi brutality and crimes against humanity that occurred in that concentration camp. Eisenhower correctly predicted that the day would come when the horrors of the Holocaust would be denied.

General Eisenhower at Ohrdruf concentration camp (Courtesy United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

On the April 25, 1945, Eisenhower addressed the members of Congress and journalists who had been shown the Buchenwald concentration camp the previous day:

You saw only one camp yesterday. There are many others. Your responsibilities, I believe, extend into a great field, and informing the people at home of things like these atrocities… Nothing is to be covered up. We have nothing to conceal. The barbarous treatment these people received in the German concentration camps is almost unbelievable. I want you to see for yourself and be spokesmen for the United States.

Israel’s 47-Minute Video

The Israeli Government took a page out of Eisenhower’s autobiography by instructing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to compile and produce a film which would display irrefutable proof in documenting the horrors of that day, when more Jews were killed on October 7, 2023, than on any other single day since the Holocaust. By using security footage, body-cam evidence, boastful social media postings of Hamas terrorists as well as personal interviews with the survivors, a 47-minute video was produced which graphically documented the atrocities committed early that morning when about 3,000 Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli towns and settlements near the Gaza Strip, savagely murdering and kidnapping innocent and defenseless babies, children, elderly and entire families. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and about 240 taken hostage on that infamous day.

Graphic photographic evidence taken by the party goers at the Nova Music Festival outside Kibbutz Re’im in the south of Israel and by the Hamas terrorists body cams, displayed shocking details of the horrific massacre of at least 350 young men and women and the capture of 40 hostages who were taken to Gaza. Some 4,000 revelers participated in the Supernova festival. Authorities have said that the number of dead at this event could rise, as forensics teams make progress is separating and identifying the remains of dozens of bodies found shot, mutilated and torched inside their cars were linked to party-goers listed as missing.

Highly experienced pathologists were aghast at the barbaric cruelty. Interviewers of survivors were shaken to the core by the stories they heard. The Israeli police who interrogated the captured Hamas terrorists were shocked to hear about the violent killings, the burning alive of babies and inhuman rape of victims. These revelations were told with intense pride by the perpetrators, in some cases filmed and broadcasted.

Search and rescue workers are continuing their efforts to locate additional bodies in the Gaza frontier area, as forensics teams – including archaeologists volunteering to help identify the remains – work to sift through the fragmentary remains of victims burned on October 7th. A total of 870 of the over 1,200 Israelis who are believed to have been murdered on October 7th have been positively identified thus far.

This gruesome documentary film has been shown selectively to various groups, including the Israeli Knesset, the U.S. House of Representatives, groups of foreign journalists operating in Israel, and Hollywood celebrities, among others.

Many viewers are unable to sit through the screening, others cry, or even faint. Only some 70 British parliamentarians were present at the screening, a small percentage of the House of Common’s 650 MPs and over 800 Peers of the House of Lords. Those who watched were visibly affected.

“It’s horrible to witness what happened. The barbarism, the cruelty… this is real terrorism,” said MP Bob Blackman of the Conservative Party.

“The horrors cannot be described in words – but it will stay with me for the rest of my life,” said Labor Party MP Preet Gill. “What I saw was extremely difficult. People were… slaughtered and murdered in cold blood in front of their families. Furthermore, glorifications of the murder (by the Hamas terrorists) – and the celebrations following it – were very difficult to watch.”

Oren Marmorstein, Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to Great Britain, commented: “It is our duty to testify about the brutal crimes committed by the terrorist organization Hamas. This is not a war for land; this is a war for humanity.”

This video will play an important role in serving as concrete, incontrovertible evidence for the evil that was unleashed that day.

There is significant debate regarding the viewing of this video. Does it impinge on the respect due to the victims? Is it far too traumatic to watch? One thing I do know is that we must learn from Eisenhower who realized from the very beginning that the world would try to deny the brutality of the Nazis. It only took a few days after Oct. 7 for many people to try to do the same regarding the savagery of Hamas. This video will play an important role in serving as concrete, incontrovertible evidence for the evil that was unleashed that day.

May our sons and daughters serving in the IDF safely return home, victorious. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the hostages. May we see their safe return today.