Liberation of Nazi Camps: Ross Snowdon

During the invasion of German-held Austria, the 11th Armored ("Thunderbolt") Division overran two of the largest Nazi concentration camps in the country: Mauthausen and Gusen. On May 5, 1945, the 11th arrived in Gusen, which had originally been a subcamp of Mauthausen. The division's arrival prevented the SS guards from murdering thousands of concentration camp prisoners by dynamiting the underground tunnels and factories where the inmates had been forced to work. The very next day, the unit liberated Mauthausen.

In this interview, Ross Snowdon, a veteran of the 11th Armored Division, speaks with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum about his experiences during liberation.

To learn more about the 11th Armored Division or about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum visit http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10006142.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Holocaust
• 11th
• Armored
• Division
• Museum
• Mauthausen
• Gusen
• Concentration
• Camp
• Liberation
• USHMM
• WWII
• Snowdon

[elninodoe]

There were plenty of death camps in Germany -- my father liberated one.

[burnmetodeath]

Don't bother trying to teach him. All of these holocaust deniers remind me of a schizophrenic friend I had who thought a secret organization was after her, trying to kill her, bugging her apartment, etc. Whenever any of us tried to confront her and explain to her that no one was out to get her, she would decide we were "one of them". Holocaust deniers do the same thing to any eye-witnesses of the holocaust and anyone who tries to reason with them. Fools.

[Mrsteddyz]

@elninodoe my grandfather did also, can't talk about it.

[kdf1227]

@burnmetodeath so true 

[andrewwatson39]

All Nazis are savages! Vicious bloody butchers. How could a civilized group of people turn into killers?

[billoakesattablthree]

Good job with this video - this is so necessary in order to send the message to those who refuse to believe. This is not about punishing the german people it's about reminding us of the dangers of indifference and that it only takes a few to create horrendous atrocities.

[jaarmour210]

Mauthausen was a really bad camp. Even the inmates at Auschwitz feared being sent to Mauthausen which suggests that they thought it was worse than Auschwitz. That's pretty bad!

[yankeegurl62]

burnmetodeath---good point...the people who believe that this DIDN"T happen are the same ones that believe the world is flat...they are just plain DUMB. and a few other words I can't use, because I'm a christian lady....the world must NEVER< EVER FORGET....

[burnmetodeath]

A lesson to be heeded by those of us here in the U.S. Loving your country and loving your government are two very different and often-times opposite things.

[eshel120]

ItIsAccomplished - everything you just wrote is complete bullshit, there are millions of profes that auchwitz was terribly real and you are brainwashed more then any jew on the planet