| Original caption: “Bodies of slave laborers await burial at German camp – American soldiers examine the bodies of some of the twenty-seven hundred slave laborers awaiting burial at the German concentration camp in Nordhausen, Germany. American officers impressed male civilians of the town to bury the bodies.” LIFE Magazine caption: “At Nordhausen the bodies of almost three thousand slave laborers are laid out along a bombed street before burial by U.S. troops. These dead once worked at the Nordhausen underground factory which made parts for V-1 and V-2 bombs. The plant was started in September 1943 and its construction probably cost the lives of twenty thousand slaves who died from starvation, overwork and beatings.” Boelcke-Kaserne Konzentrationslager (“Concentration Camp”) in Nordhausen, Germany existed for 3 months as a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora complex. It was administered by the Schutzstaffel (SS). The SS had just set up the subcamp in January 1945. It soon became Mittelbau-Dora’s main death camp. Severely debilitated inmates were sent there from the other camps. Some 6,000 of them – nearly 1 in 2 – died there within 3 months. On the afternoon of April 3, 1945, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) bombed the city of Nordhausen. The air raid caused especially heavy damage to Boelcke-Kaserne Konzentrationslager. The RAF were unaware that the Wehrmacht was no longer using the grounds. The buildings now housed a subcamp and a forced labour camp of the Junkers company instead. The air raid wrought severe destruction and killed hundreds of forced laborers and sick and wounded concentration camp inmates. Unlike their Nazi SS guards, they were denied entrance to the bomb shelters. The next morning, a 2nd attack on Nordhausen struck Boelcke-Kaserne Konzentrationslager again, and this time the town centre as well. 3rd American soldier from left has been identified as Sergeant Robert F. Coyne (Born July 31, 1926) of the 4th Cavalry Group. LIFE magazine John Florea (May 28, 1916 – August 25, 2000) took this photograph, and it appeared in the May 7, 1945, issue. after the war Florea returned to Hollywood to photograph celebrities like Marilyn Monroe — eventually rebooting his career in a new medium called television. By the time he retired, Florea had become a producer, director and writer for United States television favorites such as “Bonanza,” “Daniel Boone,” “Mission: Impossible,” “CHiPs,” “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “MacGyver.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0608.jpg |
| Image Size | 570.24 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1639 x 1688 |
| Photographer | John Florea |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 12, 1945 |
| Location | Konzentrationslager-Außenlager Boelcke-Kaserne |
| City | Nordhausen |
| State or Province | Thuringia |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | National Gallery of Art |
| Record Number | 2018.177.658 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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