• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Letter, General George S. Patton to General Dwight D. Eisenhower

4/15/1945

Print
Add to Favorites:
Add
Saving document...
Your document has been saved.
Add all page(s) of this document to activity:
In this cable, General Dwight D. Eisenhower reported his visit to a World War II German concentration camp liberated by Allied forces to General George C. Marshall and requested a delegation of Congressional leaders, editors, and others to witness the conditions firsthand.

Show/Hide Transcript

Transcript

HEADQUARTERS
THIRD UNITED STATES ARMY
Office of the The Commanding General
APO 403
15 April, 1945

My dear Ike:

I wrote a personal letter in the enclosed wording to each Corps Commander and to Chief of Staff, which I believe was in line with your idea.

It may interest you to know that they very talkative, alleged former member of the murder camp was recognized by a Russian prisoner as a former guard. The prisoner beat his brains out with a rock.

We have found at a place four miles north of WEIMAR a similar camp, only much worse. The normal population was 25,000, and they died at the rate of about a hundred a day. The burning arrangements, according to General Gay and Colonel Codman who visited it yesterday, were far superior to those which they had at OHRDRUF.

I told the press to go up there and see it, and then write as much about it as they could. I also called General Bradley last night and suggested that you send selected individuals from the upper strata of the press to look at it, so that you can build up another page of the necessary evidence as to the brutality of the Germans.

We all enjoyed your visit very much.

Most sincerely,
G. S. Patton, Jr.

General of the Army D.D. Eisenhower
Headquarters SHAEF
APO 757
U.S. Army

Incl. 
Copy, personal letter.  
This primary source comes from the DDE-EPRE: Eisenhower, Dwight D: Papers, Pre-Presidential.
National Archives Identifier: 12007734
Full Citation: Letter, General George S. Patton to General Dwight D. Eisenhower; 4/15/1945; Patton, George S., Jr. (1); Principal Files, 1916 - 1952; DDE-EPRE: Eisenhower, Dwight D: Papers, Pre-Presidential; Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, KS. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/letter-general-patton-to-eisenhower-concentration-camp, March 20, 2023]
Return to ResultsReturn

Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on Twitter:twitter
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.