Buchenwald concentration camp was established in 1937 on the outskirts of the central German town of Weimar. It grew to be one of the largest camps on German soil, imprisoning Jews, political opponents, POWs, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, and many others from across Europe. Prisoners were forced to perform labor in munitions factories in the area, until they were too weak to do so. In its nine years of operation, about 250,000 men and women were imprisoned behind its gates. Estimates of deaths by starvation, disease, and execution reach over 50,000. The SS began to evacuate the camp in early April 1945. Remaining SS guards were overpowered by prisoners shortly before the American military arrived on April 11. It was the first concentration camp the Americans entered.

In the days following liberation, American occupation forces compelled German civilians to tour the camp. As seen in this film, inhabitants of the region displayed a range of emotions as they were forced to witness camp remains, including corpses, items such as lampshades covered in human skin, crematoria, and mass graves. The American military believed that such direct confrontation by civilians with the crimes of the war years were an important step in the denazification process.