Memorial held for 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi camps

The Museum of American Armor and the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center jointly held ceremonies in early April to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, Dachau and Buchenwald, by American G.I’s.

Standing beside armor similar to those that knocked the gates down to the death camps were Fred Zeiberger of the Bristal Assisted Living in North Woodmere, a Holocaust survivor whose father survived Buchenwald, and Robert Suarez of Seaford, Four Leaf community affairs representative, whose corporate support assisted in underwriting the ceremony.

They were joined by students from North Shore Hebrew Academy, Rabbi Joel Levenson of Midway Jewish Center, Rabbi Anchel Perl, Nassau Legislator Arnold Drucker, and the Long Island Chapter of Jewish War veterans, among others.

Dr. Richard Schoonhoven, Associate Professor Military Ethics and Philosophy at West Point, told several hundred attendees, “When General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived at the concentration camps following their liberation, he was not merely a Supreme Commander overseeing an operational success—he was a witness to history. He understood in that moment that what lay before him would need to be preserved, recorded, and shared with the world. The bodies, the starving survivors, the mass graves—all of it was irrefutable evidence of the horrors that mankind was capable of inflicting upon itself. It was beyond comprehension, yet it was real.

“Eisenhower insisted on documentation because he foresaw what would come—that there would be those who, in time, would seek to diminish or deny these atrocities. He ordered his troops to take photographs and film footage. He invited journalists and dignitaries to see for themselves. He urged his own soldiers to bear witness so that they could one day testify. His foresight was an act of moral leadership. He knew that the liberation of the camps was not just a military action but a moral imperative—one that had to be cemented in history lest the world forget,” he continued Schoonhoven.

At the conclusion of the program a powerful moment arrived when Army living historians climbed down from their perch on a Sherman tank, walked around mock barbed wire and gave members of the audience chocolate bars, as stunned GI’s did 80 years ago when they encountered camp starving survivors the day they liberated them.