Evening star., 1945-04-23
3 Congress Members
Aqree Nazi Atrocities
Exceed Imagination
BY DON WHITEHEAD.

III,
BUCHENWALD, Germany, April
23.-Eight members of Congress
agreed today, after inspecting
the horrors of Buchenwald pris-
on camp, that the evidence OF
Nazi atrocities committed there
exceeds the widest flights of
imagination.
This is the most horrible thing
that any one could conceive" said
Representative Manasco, Democrat,
Of Alabama, after he and his COM
panions had been shown around the
camp-where emaciated bodies of
the Nazis' victims are still stacked
like cordwood, where men were
hung on spikes like sides OF beef
until they died, and where bodies by
the hundreds were burned in fur
naces.
This is barbarism at its worst" +"
said Representative Canfield, Re-
publican, of New Jersey. He de-
clared the evidence bore out every
thing that had been said or written
about Nazi brutality.
"a Paris dispatch said that two
French journalists released from
the camp estimated that between
10000 and 100000 persons died
there)
The Congress members who were
in Britain on various missions, were
invited to come here by Gen. Eisen-
hover so they might obtain first
hand evidence of the atrocities
committed in Buchenwald. Other
members of the group were Rep
resentatives Jackson, Democrat, of
Washington; Wilson, Republican, of
Indiana; Rains, Democrat, of Ala
bama; Worley, Democrat, of Texas:
Bennett, Republican, of Missouri, and
Walter, Democrat, of Pennsylvania
Behind one building, the Congress
members saw great heap of wasted
human bodies, which the Nazis had
left piled up one atop the other
like SO many logs. Nearby was a
truck piled high with go more bodies,
each bearing tattooed prison
number.
In the adjacent courtyaM was q
pile of ashes and bits of bone
remains of the dead who had been
burned in the 12-furnace crematory,
where blackened skulls still could
be seen.
Below the furnaces the legislators
we're shown room from which the
prisoners said none of their num-
ber ever had emerged alive. Along
the walls were hooks like those in
butcher shop, and prisoners said
human bodies-including some that
still had life-were hung there until
the furnaces were ready.
Conditions Vastly Improved.
The Americans took Buchenwald
II days ago and conditions have
improved considerably since then,
but there Is no way to erase the
tragedy as long as any of the 81 900
prisoners whom they released are
still present.
Utterly indescribable Is the ap-
pearance of these emaciated hu-
man wrecks, wandering helpless and
vacant-eyed about the camp, waiting
for some one to take them home.
The Americans are doing every
thing they can for these poor crea-
tures-who include many children.
Eight hundred youngsters, mostly
Polish Jews ranging in age from
four years upward. have been quar-
tered In a barracks formerly used
by the Nazis and are receiving the
first real meals they have had in
years.
Children Get Good Food.
For months their daily diet has
been . piece of bread, a small bit
of margarine and a liter (about "a
ounces) of thin soup. Now they are
getting milk, butter, eggs, vege-
tables, chocolate and other staples
most Of them captured from the
German Army.
The Americans also are caring for