Dachau, Germany
Through quiet Dachau's cobbled streets
The bull-drawn carts plod their way,
Past shops, cafes and cool retreats,
Past churches where the townfolk pray.
On through the town they haul their freight
Of starved and naked dead --
Up to the hill where the mass graves wait --
At last the end of fear and dread.
American Army corporal, in witness

At Dachau concentration camp, two U.S. soldiers gaze at Jews who died on board a death train.
[Photo Credit: USHMM]

My Jewish Brethren of Dachau: (U.S.Army Rabbi Eichorn)
In the portion we read yesterday in our holy Torah we found these words: "Proclaim freedom throughout the world to all the inhabitants, hereof; a day of celebration shall this be for you, a day when every man shall return to his family, and to his rightful place in society".
In the United States of America, in the city of Philadelphia, upon the exact spot where 169 years ago a group of brave Americans met and decided to fight for American independence, there stands a marker upon which is written these very same words: "Proclaim freedom throughout the world to all the inhabitants thereof". From the beginning of their existence as a liberty-loving and independent people, the citizens of America understood that not until all the peoples of the world were free would they be truly free, that not until tyranny and oppression had been erased from the hearts of all men and all nations would there be lasting peace and happiness for themselves. Thus it has been that, throughout our entire history, whenever and wherever men have been enslaved, Americans have fought to set them free; whenever and wherever dictators have endeavored to destroy democracy and justice and truth, Americans have not rested content until these despots have been overthrown.
Today I come to you in a dual capacity -- as a soldier in the American Army and as a representative of the Jewish community of America. As an American soldier, I say to you that we are proud, very proud, to be here, to know that we have had a share in the destruction of the most cruel tyranny of all time. As an American soldier, I say to you that we are proud, very proud, to be your comrades-in-arms, to greet you and salute  you as the bravest of the brave. We know your tragedy. We know your sorrows. We know that upon you was centered the venomous hatred of power-crazed madmen, that  your annihilation was decreed and planned systematically and ruthlessly. We know too that you refused to be destroyed, that you fought back with every weapon at your command, that you fought with your bodies, your minds, and your spirit. Your faith and our faith in God and in humanity have been sustained. Our enemies lie prostrate before us. The way of life which together we have defended still lives, and it will live so that all men everywhere may have freedom and happiness and peace.
I speak to you also as a Jew, as a rabbi in Israel, as a teacher of that religious philosophy which is dearer to all of us than life itself. What message of comfort and strength can I bring to  you from your fellow Jews? What can I say that will compare in depth or in intensity to that which you have suffered and overcome? Full well do I know and humbly do I confess the emptiness of mere words in this hour of mingled sadness and joy. Words will not bring back the dead to life nor right the wrongs of the past ten years. This is no time for words, you will say, and rightfully so. This is a time for deeds, deeds of justice, deeds of love . . . Justice will be done. We have seen with our own eyes and we have heard with our own ears and we shall not forget. As long as there are Jews in the world "Dachau" will be a term of horror and shame. Those who have labored here for their evil master will be hunted down and destroyed as systematically and as ruthlessly as they sought your destruction . . . And there will be deeds of love. It is the recognized duty of all religious people to bestir themselves immediately to assist  you to regain  your health, comfort, and some measure of happiness as speedily as possible. This must be done. This can be done. This will be done. You are not and you will not be forgotten men, my brothers. In every country where the lamps of religion and decency and kindness still burn, Jews and non-Jews alike will expend as much time and energy and money as is needful to make good the pledge which is written in our holy Torah and inscribed on that marker in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.
We know that abstractions embodied in proclamations and celebrations must be followed by more concrete, more helpful, fulfillments. We do not intend to brush aside the second part of the Divine promise. Every man who has been oppressed must and will be restored to his family and to his rightful place in society. This is a promise and a pledge which I bring you from your American comrades-in-arms and your Jewish brethren across the seas:

You shall go out with joy, and be led forth in peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you in singing;
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress,
And instead of brambles myrtles shall spring forth;
And God's name will be glorified;
This will be remembered forever.
This will not be forgotten. Amen.

Saturday, May 5, 1945 

Dachau survivor on the day of liberation.
[Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives, Francis Robert Arzt Collection
The End of the Holocaust, The Liberation of the Camps by Jon Bridgman