On 29 April 1945, a sunny Sunday morning, two blue-and-white-striped busses left the liberated Buchenwald concentration camp. The mayor of the city of Luxembourg had sent them at the request of Pol Sand and Nekle Simon, two Buchenwald survivors, to take the approximately 100 liberated Luxembourgian inmates home.

The men had been waiting for days, dressed in civilian clothing, American ID papers in their pockets, their belongings packed in crates. Finally the day arrived. Albert Beffort later recalled their departure: “Soon we had Buchenwald, the Forest of Death, behind us. Through a blossoming spring day we hurried back to life.”

The camp newspaper published their farewell message to their fellow inmates the same day: “The Luxembourgers salute all their Buchenwald comrades, who suffered and worked beside them in years of loyal fellowship and community.”

(Sabine Stein)

Sources:

KZ Buchenwald 1937–1945: Das SS-Konzentrationslager bei Weimar in Thüringen, Luxembourg 1985.

Bodo Ritscher (ed.), Buchenwalder Nachrichten, Nr. 1 (14. April 1945) - Nr. 28 (16. Mai 1945), Weimar-Buchenwald 1983.