Document 24-5: Life Magazine, Atrocities (1945)

LIFE Magazine Exposes the Horrors of Germany’s Concentration Camps

LIFE MAGAZINE, Atrocities (1945)

LIFE magazine graphically captured the war’s human toll in its May 7, 1945, issue featuring haunting photographs by George Rodger and Margaret Bourke-White. Titled “Atrocities,” the article depicted victims of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen. At these and other camps, Germany’s campaign against Jews and others they deemed inferior resulted in millions of deaths. In one image, a boy walks along the road outside Belsen amidst rows of bodies.

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Source: “Atrocities,” LIFE (May 7, 1945): 32–33. George Rodger/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

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