When, on 5 May 1945, two tanks from the US army’s 11th Armored Division finally rolled into Mauthausen, one of the camp’s prisoners caught a glimpse of himself and his fellow inmates in their liberators’ faces.
“Before their eyes,” recalled Alfonso Maeso, “marched a dismal procession of men devastated by years of suffering, massing before them, some whispering, others sobbing inconsolably.”
