Question

"Outside, in addition to a huge mound of charred bone fragments, were the carefully sorted and stacked clothes of the victims - which obviously numbered in the thousands. Although I stood there looking at it, I couldn't believe it. The realness of the whole mess is just gradually dawning on me, and I doubt if it ever will on you. There is a rumor circulating which says that the war is over. It probably is - as much as it will ever be. We've all been expecting the end for several days, but were not too excited about it because we know that it does not mean too much as far as our immediate situation is concerned. There was no celebration - it's difficult to celebrate anything with the morbid state we're in." - letter from Harold Porter, 1945 The letter is describing the reaction to what?

Answer 1

In this letter of 1945,Harold Porter is telling his parents in Michigan that situation at Dachau Concentration Camp was morbid after liberation and there was perhaps nothing left to celebrate.

Harold Porter was a medic at the 116th Evacuation Hospital and now the letter is archived at the Eisenhower Presidential Library.

Answer 2

Harold R. Porter was a 22-year-old who had just graduated from the University of Michigan and worked as a surgical technician in the United States Army during World War II. In a series of letters to his family's house, he described the present conditions and his medical attention to the survivors. The fragment that is described comes from a letter that this soldier wrote to his parents and in it describes the situation in the Dachau concentration camp after the liberation