Their bodies had been deprived of food.
Their immune systems had been devastated.
Many were infected with serious diseases.
Some were so weak that simply surviving the first days of freedom was uncertain.
Freedom came too late for many
This is one of the most painful truths about the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.
Being liberated did not mean everyone survived.
Many prisoners died after the gates were opened.
Their bodies had endured too much for too long.
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum notes that many survivors of Nazi camps were so weakened by forced labor, starvation and mistreatment that they resembled skeletons and could barely move. Even after liberation, disease remained an enormous threat.
At Mittelbau-Dora and its subcamps, many people had already died.
Others would die shortly afterward.
For those who survived, freedom could arrive alongside grief.
They were free, but they had lost parents.
Spouses.
Siblings.
