Adolph Ahmadinejad

Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton visit the concentration camp at Ohrdruf in April 1945

When General Eisenhower learned about [Buchenwald], he immediately arranged to meet Generals Bradley and Patton at Ohrdruf on the morning of April 12th. By that time, Buchenwald itself had been captured. Consequently, Ike decided to extend the group’s visit to include a tour of the Buchenwald extermination camp the next day. Eisenhower also ordered every American soldier in the area who was not on the front lines to visit Ohrdruf and Buchenwald. He wanted them to see for themselves what they were fighting against.

During the camp inspections with his top commanders Eisenhower said that the atrocities were “beyond the American mind to comprehend.” He ordered that every citizen of the town of Gotha personally tour the camp and, after having done so, the mayor and his wife went home and hanged themselves. Later on Ike wrote to Mamie, “I never dreamed that such cruelty, bestiality, and savagery could really exist in this world.” He cabled General Marshall to suggest that he come to Germany and see these camps for himself. He encouraged Marshall to bring Congressmen and journalists with him. It would be many months before the world would know the full scope of the Holocaust — many months before they knew that the Nazi murder apparatus that was being discovered at Buchenwald and dozens of other death camps had slaughtered millions of innocent people.

General Eisenhower understood that many people would be unable to comprehend the full scope of this horror. He also understood that any human deeds that were so utterly evil might eventually be challenged or even denied as being literally unbelievable. For these reasons he ordered that all the civilian news media and military combat camera units be required to visit the camps and record their observations in print, pictures and film. As he explained to General Marshall, “I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’” (read more at Ike and the Death Camps)

Hugh Hewitt reminds us, “His prediction proved correct. When some groups, even today, attempt to deny that the Holocaust ever happened they are [sic] must confront the massive official record, including both written evidence and thousands of pictures, that Eisenhower ordered to be assembled when he saw what the Nazis had done.

Eisenhower understood how propaganda worked, how the Nazis had used it through the '30s and the war, and how evil men would use it again in the future.”

Hugh correctly points out, “One such evil man is Ahmadinejad.” It is true that within our borders, as well as in many other places, there are those who, whether due to naiveté or because of an entrenched invincible ignorance, struggle with embracing the realty and extent of the depravity of man. It would be a stretch to classify one such as Ahmadinejad (one who if he has not already done so, has vowed to perpetuate such acts of hate as soon as he is able to do so) as one who had simply buried his head in the sand. He clearly fits (along with Castro, Chavez, and many others, some of which line the halls of our government) with those who would seek to use society’s struggle to comprehend the full scope of horror to further their own agenda. You can read Hugh’s full article at Columbia’s Disgrace. (Sadly Columbia University, which was once led by the very man who sought to protect America from the denial of evil, has invited such an evil propagandist as Ahmadinejad to speak in its halls.)