What a powerful photo!

On April 13, 1945, some 2,500 Holocaust prisoners who'd been packed into a transport train were passing through Farsleben, Germany. They were forced into freight cars each filled with 70 prisoners who barely had enough room to stand — but an even worse fate was awaiting them at their destination: the Theresienstadt ghetto and concentration camp.

Just then, however, everything changed in an instant when U.S. forces came upon the train, liberated it, and set all 2,500 prisoners free. "At the sight of Americans they began laughing in joy — if it could be called laughing," remembered Sgt. George C. Gross. "It was an outpouring of pure, near-hysterical relief."