Documenting the horrors of Mauthausen concentration camp

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In precocious April 1945, arsenic World War II neared its extremity successful Europe, 3 newborn babies and their mothers arrived astatine the notorious Mauthausen attraction campy successful Austria. The women, Jewish prisoners who had endured months of forced labor, had hidden their pregnancies from their Nazi captors. Their endurance to that constituent was extraordinary; what happened adjacent was thing person to miraculous.

Less than a week aft their arrival, a tiny American portion of astir 2 twelve soldiers liberated the camp. Among the liberating soldiers was 22-year-old Army medic LeRoy "Pete" Petersohn of Illinois.

Petersohn had worked astatine a paper earlier the war. When helium entered Mauthausen, helium recovered himself confronting horrors that helium felt were astir beyond comprehension. He besides understood that what helium was seeing needed to beryllium documented to beryllium believed.

"This is simply a communicative arsenic I witnessed upon arriving present astir 2 weeks ago," helium wrote successful a missive dated May 20, 1945.

His son, Brian Petersohn, precocious work those words aloud to 60 Minutes analogous Lesley Stahl. The missive was not conscionable a connection home; it was testimony.

"It was a unspeakable show upon arriving here," Petersohn wrote, describing "piles aft piles of dormant bodies." He recounted however starving prisoners, erstwhile the gates were opened, ran to patches of writer and began eating it. "The sights were horrible," helium wrote. "The campy was astir beyond a quality being to stand."

He described prisoners lying against the walls. "We figured they were conscionable resting, but no, they were besides dormant and had been dormant for hours. My humor runs acold erstwhile I callback these sights, which I witnessed."

In summation to his written report, Petersohn and his chap soldiers took photographs and recorded movie footage of what they recovered astatine Mauthausen successful the days aft liberation.

Brian Petersohn says his begetter understood that past would necessitate proof. He recalled conversations astir the relation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who ordered troops to bring section civilians to spot the camps firsthand and to papers what they recovered done words and images.

Petersohn did precisely that. He sent the missive location to his wife, who brought it to the section newspaper, wherever it was published arsenic contemporaneous grounds of what American soldiers had encountered.

"He was giving testimony," Stahl observed.

Brian agreed.

When asked whether helium considers his begetter a hero, Brian paused.

"I'm going to accidental yes," helium said of his father, who died from a encephalon tumor successful June 2010. "But past again, I cognize however humble helium was — that it was conscionable what helium was expected to do. It was his job."

Photos and videos courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Getty Images.

The video supra was produced by Shari Finkelstein, Collette Richards, and Brit McCandless Farmer. It was edited by April Wilson and Scott Rosann.

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