Final answer:
Elie learns that the fate of those who stayed behind in the hospital during the Holocaust was dire, with hospitals often destroyed and resources like food and medicine depleted. The liberation of the concentration camps revealed the extent of the horrendous conditions, and historical accounts and records have preserved these grim realities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Elie learns that those who stayed behind in the hospital during the Holocaust had a grim fate. Many hospitals and areas where victims sought refuge were destroyed or faced dire circumstances with the lack of resources such as food and medicine. Soldiers and those who liberated the camps, like the townspeople near Bergen-Belsen and witnesses to the Warsaw Ghetto, were haunted by the atrocities they observed, including mass graves and corpses in the streets.
Instances like the account of Dr. LeVasseur’s experience during Serbia's fall and the subsequent retreat of thousands reflect the severe conditions and high mortality rates encountered during this time. Likewise, the experiences related to soldiers who liberated camps, such as Felix L. Sparks, and the records preserved by institutions like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum further illustrate the harrowing realities faced by those who remained in such dangerous conditions during the war.