Ludwigslust: graves; corpses; service

(LIB 6389) Remnants of Nazism, Ludwigslust, Germany, 7 May 1945. MCUs, townspeople walking past pits containing bodies of former slave laborers/prisoners who died from malnutrition and torture. VS, German civilians digging graves and reburying concentration camp victims. MCUs, MSs, Maj Gen James M Gavin, 82nd ABN Corps and other US officers attending burial ceremonies. CUs, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish chaplains speaking at ceremony. CUs, Gavin and other US soldiers. Burying victims. MSs, body lying in grave as earth is shoveled over it. Germans burying victims, grave markers. More shots of civilians walking past pits, some women crying. Germans in uniform forced to pass graves. Townspeople burying bodies. MSs, grave markers, some with the Star of David. More shots of burying bodies, coffins. CUs, faces of the dead reflecting the violent deaths suffered. 05:03:01 - 05:03:29 Troops riding through liberated village, soldier playing accordion, black screen. MSs, civilians digging graves and reburying victims. Military officers supervise burial, talking, laughing. CUs, female survivor wearing uniform and coat marked with an "X" on the back crying, watching German civilians remove bodies from mass grave. MSs, CUs, MCUs, several freed prisoners also watching Germans. CUs, exhumation of bodies. Crosses are painted by German civilians. Various CUs, removing bodies.
Note: The victims were from Woebbelin concentration camp. The camp housed political prisoners of all nations.