| Original caption: “Full-length view of British MPs, a journalist, and soldiers standing behind a heap of emaciated naked corpses at the concentration camp in Buchenwald.” On April 21, 1945, a cross-party group of parliamentarians arrived at Buchenwald Konzentrationslager (KZ; “Concentration Camp”) near Weimar, which had been liberated by Eisenhower’s men 10 days earlier. From left to right: James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope (November 11, 1880 – August 15, 1967); Sir Henry Morris Jones (November 2, 1884 – July 9, 1972); Lieutenant-Colonel Edward T. R. Wickham (May 4, 1890 – August 25, 1957); Sir Graham White (August 26, 1880 – February 19, 1965); unidentified American officers; Mavis Tate (August 17, 1893 – June 5, 1947), and Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison (June 19, 1869 – December 11, 1951) Not pictured are Sir Archibald Southby (July 8, 1886 – October 30 1969), Ness Edwards (April 5, 1897 – May 3, 1968), Samuel Sydney Silverman (October 8, 1895 – February 9, 1968)and Thomas E. N. Driberg (May 22, 1905 – August 12, 1976). They had been invited to see for themselves, and on behalf of the British people, what was the truth behind the stories beginning to circulate about German atrocities in concentration camps. Nothing could have prepared them for the gruesome sights that awaited them. Half-starved and disease-ravaged survivors, heaps of bodies, and the apparatus of routine torture were all taken in by the 8 MPs and 2 Lords. On April 13, less than 48 hours after its liberation, United States Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), along with General Omar N. Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981), Commander, 12th Army Group, and Major General George S. Patton (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945), Commander, 3rd Army, toured KZ Buchenwald. That evening in Marburg Eisenhower discussed Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Nordhausen-Dora with Courtney H. Hodges (January 5, 1887 – January 16, 1966), Commander of 1st Army, and Bradley in the presence of his son, Captain John S. Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013). “The only speck of optimism I can see,” he said, “is that I really don’t think that the bulk of the Germans knew what was going on.” After relating that Patton had told him that the mayor of Gotha and his wife had committed suicide after seeing Ohrdruf, he added, “Maybe there is hope after all.” Captain Eisenhower left by jeep the next day to make his own visit to Weimar and Buchenwald. Eisenhower was still so disturbed by what he had seen that the atrocities again became the major topic of conversation when he met United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) in London a few days later. Eisenhower spent a long evening with Churchill discussing the state of the war and visited him the next morning at the War Room annex to 10 Downing Street. Eisenhower promised to send photos of the camps to Churchill, who apparently shared his outrage. He urged Churchill to send a group of members of Parliamend and journalists to tour the camps at once. An American delegation, Eisenhower feared, “might be too late to see the full horrors, whereas an English delegation, being so much closer, could get there on time.” On April 19, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell “Beetle” Smith (October 5, 1895 – August 9, 1961), Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff, relayed a report to Churchill through Lord Hastings Ismay (June 21, 1887 – December 17, 1965) that “the German concentration camps which have recently been overrun by the Allied armies are even indescribably more horrible than those about which General Eisenhower spoke to you yesterday.” With fresh reports appearing about British discoveries at Bergen-Belsen, all London was talking about German atrocities. Sir John R. “Jock” Colville (January 28, 1915 – November 19, 1987), Churchill’s private secretary, wrote in his diary, “The papers are full of (reports], with stomach-turning photographs, consequent on the Allied armies overrunning Buchenwald and other German concentration camps. Proof is now supplied that the stories of the last ten years have not been just propaganda, as were many of the last war’s atrocity stories.” On the day after Eisenhower’s visit, April 19, Churchill delivered a short but moving speech to Parliament in reply to a member’s question. E. P. Smith had asked whether steps would be taken to maintain “the captured prison camp of Buchenwald as a memorial to German methods.” Although refusing to commit himself to specific steps, Churchill stated: No words can express the horror which is felt by His Majesty’s Government at the proofs of these frightful crimes now daily coming into view…I have this morning received an informal message from General Eisenhower saying that the new discoveries, particularly at Weimar, far surpass anything previously ex-posed. He invites me to send a body of Members of Parliament at once to his Headquarters in order that they may themselves have ocular and 1st-hand proof of these atrocities. Calling the matter 1 of “urgency,” he arranged for the appointment of a special team of 10 members of Parliament “for this extremely unpleasant but nonetheless necessary duty” of investigating the camp. A carefully balanced delegation of 4 Conservatives, 3 Labour members, 1 Liberal, 1 Liberal National, and 1 Independent left London within 24 hours. Among them were 1 woman and 1 Jewish member; 2 of the 10 were from the House of Lords. The delegation arrived at Eisenhower’s SHAEF Headquarters in Reims the evening of April 20. The next morning the group flew on military Royal Air Force Dakotas (Lend Lease American-built C-47 Skytrains) into Weimar and reached Buchenwald at 1100 Hours on Saturday, April 21, just 10 days after liberation. The committee’s brief, factual report, published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office in May 1945, concluded that “a policy of steady starvation and inhuman brutality was carried out at Buchenwald for a long period of time; and that such camps as this mark the lowest point of degradation to which humanity has yet descended. The memory of what we saw and heard at Buchenwald will haunt us ineffaceably for many years.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0588.jpg |
| Image Size | 324.10 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2048 x 1562 |
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| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 21, 1945 |
| Location | Konzentrationslager Buchenwald |
| City | Weimar |
| State or Province | Thuringia |
| Country | Germany |
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| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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