Anthony Acevedo, a 20-year-old Army medic, had been captured during the Battle of the Bulge when a Red Cross care package arrived in March 1945 at the Nazi slave labor camp where he was imprisoned.

It contained a diary and a fountain pen. Between the diary’s grayish-green covers, Mr. Acevedo would record a grim roster of prisoner deaths (by dysentery, heart attack, jaundice, influenza and starvation); the cruelty of the guards; and rumors of American troops closing in on the Berga camp, a part of the Buchenwald complex. It was a rare accounting of Nazi atrocities by an American prisoner of war.

March 20 — 5 more men escaped today — Goldstein’s body was returned here for burial — He was shot while attempting to re-escape. So they say but actually was recaptured and shot thru the head.

April 2 — Two more of our men died today & one last night makes 3 + 16 makes 19.

April 3 — Excellent news today — Americans are only 100 km from here. Rumors are that we are to be moved away.