The Liberation of Buchenwald | April 11, 2024

The Liberation of Buchenwald

April 11, 1945

On April 11, GIs of the 6th Armored Division entered Buchenwald, the main camp in a large complex of concentration camps near Weimar that had recently been abandoned by German troops. American soldiers who liberated the camp were met by thousands of emaciated camp survivors. Shortly after the camp’s liberation, Bernard Bernstein reached Buchenwald and came face-to-face with the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. His story is part of the Truman Library’s archives.

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The Liberation of Buchenwald

WWII 80: The Formal Surrender of Japan | September 2, 2020

WWII 80: Highlights from the Truman Library

The Formal Surrender of Japan
September 2, 1945

It is Sunday, September 2, 1945. Some 280 Allied warships and thousands of troops are staged in Tokyo Bay. On the deck of one vessel, the battleship USS Missouri, General Douglas MacArthur and 50 other Allied leaders are assembled. It is not a battle they have prepared for, however, but a brief ceremony. The men aboard the Missouri are about to witness Japan’s formal surrender. Read More

WWII 80: The Formal Surrender of Japan