Resilience After Liberation

US Army Colonel Hayden Sears stands with newly liberated prisoners at Ohrdruf concentration camp, April 1945. —National Archives

After liberation, Holocaust survivors faced new struggles. The desperate search to learn the fate of their families began. Some had no homes to return to and prejudice against Jews made others afraid of going back. But survivors rebuilt. They married, had babies at record levels, and reclaimed their humanity by opening schools, celebrating holidays again, and rekindling religious practices.

In this digital program, 75 years after Allied forces liberated the Ohrdruf and Bergen-Belsen camps, Museum historian Edna Friedberg and Museum curator Kyra Schuster discuss the resilience of survivors.