This was no longer an enemy position.
It was a place filled with people who desperately needed to be saved.
The liberation did not look like victory
When people imagine liberation, they may picture cheering crowds, flags and soldiers walking through open gates.
At Mittelbau-Dora, there was little that resembled celebration.
The camp had been devastated by months and years of exploitation.
Prisoners had been forced to perform brutal labor under conditions designed to extract as much work as possible from human beings while providing them with almost nothing necessary to survive.
The Mittelbau complex was connected to a massive underground weapons program.
Prisoners were forced to construct tunnels and facilities and to work in underground factories associated with the production of Germany’s V-2 rockets.
The work was extraordinarily dangerous.
The conditions were appalling.
Food was desperately inadequate.
Disease spread rapidly.
Exhaustion became a permanent part of daily existence.
