commiespaceinvader comments on People don't stop hating over night. What was life in Germany like for Jewish, handicapped, gays after WWII?: "
In the last camp liberated, the Ebensee camp, US soldiers came to face inmates who had been forced to use their frozen comrades bodies' as mattresses and were there also had been cases of cannibalism in the last weeks of the war. The shock was profound. So was the logistical challenge of providing thousands of people with help.
Under this impression, the first aid given was often food and very basic medical care in order to ensure the survival of as many prisoners as possible. Especially the troops that liberated camps often made it their first priority to give food to the liberated prisoners, sometimes with dire consequences. The body of a person who has been on a starvation diet for a long time is not able to immediately process solid food for some time.
A considerable number of people died right after liberation after they had been given army rations by the liberating troops simply because their bodies went into shock from the sugar, fat etc. Only with the arrival of medical personnel shortly after liberation, did this practice cease in many camps and a proper diet to nurse prisoners back to health could be instituted."
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