Gripping audio of Edward R. Murrow’s radio report from Buchenwald, which he visited the day after it was liberated by the U.S. Fourth Army.

Partial transcript here. Journalistically, it’s interesting how Murrow uses restraint as a tease. At one point: “I saw it, but will not describe it.” And: “I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it, I have no words.”

And finally: “If I have offended you by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I’m not in the least sorry.”

Here’s an interesting analysis of the piece. “Murrow was so upset by what he saw at Buchenwald that he waited three days to make his broadcast while his contemporaries who had been there too filed their stories right away. Murrow wanted some time to gather himself, to carefully find the words and phrases that would convey to listeners how terrible the experience was. Those who watched him make the broadcast said they had never seen Murrow so grave, so tightly wound. They said that at the end of the broadcast, his anger was so great that he was trembling.”

18 October 2006

Comments

No comments yet.

Post a comment