The bodies of prisoners who died in the Woebbelin concentration camp lie next to open graves on the palace grounds of the Archduke of Mecklenburg in Ludwigslust, Germany.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 80128

Overview

Caption: The bodies of prisoners who died in the Woebbelin concentration camp lie next to open graves on the palace grounds of the Archduke of Mecklenburg in Ludwigslust, Germany.
Photographer: Ralph Forney
Date: 1945 May 07
Locale: Ludwigslust, [Mecklenburg] Germany
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
Event History: Woebbelin, a sub-camp of Neuengamme, was captured by British and American troops on May 4, 1945. Upon entering the camp, the liberators discovered nearly 4,000 prisoners, one-quarter of whom were already dead. Outraged by what they found, the ranking Allied commanders in the area forced civilians from the nearby towns of Schwerin, Hagenow, and Ludwigslust to view the concentration camp and then bury the bodies of prisoners in their towns. Approximately 200 bodies were buried in Ludwigslust on the grounds of the palace of the Archduke of Mecklenburg. A somewhat smaller number were buried in the garden of the leading Nazi official in Hagenow and 80 bodies were interred in Schwerin. Every fourth grave was marked at each site with a Star of David in honor of the unidentified Jewish dead.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006160.

Photo Source: National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

Copyright: Public Domain

Source Record ID: 153-Case files 1944-49--box 313--file 12-639 to 12-646

Keyword: BURIAL CONCENTRATION CAMPS CORPSES FORCED CONFRONTATION GERMANS GRAVES/MARKERS/TOMBSTONES MASS GRAVES NEUENGAMME SUB-CAMPS WOEBBELIN
Photo Designation: LIBERATION -- Germany: Atrocities/Death March Victims -- Woebbelin/Ludwigslust/Schwerin