Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps and Camp Site Memorials

Overview

Abstract

Scope and Contents

Administrative Information

Detailed Description

RG-09.01, Gardelegen Massacre

RG-09.02, Mauthausen Collection

RG-09.03, Majdanek Collection

RG-09.04, Ravensbruck Collection

RG-09.05, Dachau Collection

RG-09.06, Gusen Collection

RG-09.07, Liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp

RG-09.08, Dora-Nordhausen Collection

RG-09.09, Landsberg Collection

RG-09.10, Zeymour Herman Collection

RG-09.11, Various post-liberation photographs

RG-09.12, Kurt Wittler Collection

RG-09.13, Documentary from the USHMM, Nazi atrocities by the War Department, narrated

RG-09.15, Anthony Hinds Collection

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Title: Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps and Camp Site Memorials, 1944-ca.1970s

Predominant Dates:1945

ID: RG-09/RG-09

Primary Creator: United States. Army. Signal Corps

Extent: 0.0

Arrangement:

The arrangement scheme for the record group was imposed during processing in the absence of an original order. Materials are arranged by subject/donor, then by identifier, as assigned by the processor.

Record group is comprised of thirteen collections and two items, the collections of which are: 1. Collection on the Gardelegen massacre; 2. Collection on the liberation of Mauthausen; 3. Collection on the liberation of Majdanek concentration camp; 4. Collection on the liberation of Ravensbrück concentration camp; 5. Collection on the liberation of Dachau concentration camp; 6. Collection on the liberation of Gusen concentration camp; 7. Collection on the liberation of Buchenwald; 8. Collections on the liberation of Dora-Nordhausen concentration camp; 9. Collection on the liberation of Landsberg concentration camp; 10. Zeymour Herman collection; 11. Photographs of post-liberation of concentration camps; 12. Kurt Wittler collection; 13. Anthony Hinds collection.

Subjects: Allied discovery of Nazi war crimes, evidences of the crimes of National Socialist regime, liberation of Nazi concentration camps, Europe

Languages: German, Polish, English

This record group contains photo-documents and narratives produced by the personnel of the Allied armed forces in the aftermath of liberation of the German concentration camps in Europe. Additionally, there is a collection of postwar publications and brochures on museums and memorials at the sites of former camps.

Materials in this record group include photographs, reprints of original photographs, and publications about the camp memorials. Photographs are digitized.

Photography at the liberated camps began spontaneously. Allied military personnel largely experienced a shock after being exposed to the evidence of Nazi crimes. Initially, they instantly took photographs for themselves. The US Army Command decided to organize the process of photographing the remaining traces of Nazi crimes. This task was entrusted to the Signal Corps of the American armed forces in Germany and Austria. An order followed to circulate these sets of photographs, depicting the crimes of National Socialism, among the American units stationed in Germany, Austria and France. After the end of the war, American Military Government in Germany started publishing newspapers for the German population, which also published these photo-documents depicting the Nazi crimes against prisoners of the concentration camps.

RG-09.01, Gardelegen Massacre Collection: On 13^th April 1945, the SS massacred 1016 religious, political, and military prisoners from the Nordhausen, Rottleberode, Wiede, and Ilfeld concentration camps. They burned them in the barn. Only seven of them survived. They were discovered by the U.S. Army 102^nd Infantry Division’s 405^th Regiment 2^nd Battalion on 15^th April 1945. Vern Ecklund, Army Signal Corps photographer, documented the site of massacre. 

RG-09.01.01, Nine photographs, Gardelegen Massacre, Copies of the originals made by the soldiers of the 102^nd Infantry Division of the US Armed Forces

RG-09.01.02, Sixteen original photographs, some are clearly of the massacre at Gardelegen. Several photographs represent crematories and other scenes. Two have handwritten comments on the back, one identifying a corpse as that of an SS guard who tried to escape and the other of German civilians forced to bury corpses by the US military

RG-09.01.03, Photograph, Massacre at Gardelegen. Cut from a book with a German caption. Photograph portrays corpses at the door of the barn, one apparently having struggled to escape the burning barn

RG-09.01.04, Handwritten letter by Vern Ecklund, Army Signal Corps photographer, the US 102^nd Infantry Division’s 405^th Regiment, 2^nd Battalion. The massacre scene was discovered by these soldiers on 15^th April 1945. The letter asserts that bodies were still burning when he saw them. Copy from the original

RG-09.02, Liberation of Mauthausen, Collection of Photographs

RG-09.02.01, Six photographs (copies) taken in the aftermath of liberation at the Mauthausen concentration camp. The pictures were taken by the soldiers of the 328^th Infantry Regiment of the US Armed Forces

RG-09.02.02, Photograph, Mauthausen, in the aftermath of the liberation, 1 May 1945. Caption on the reverse side reads: “May 1 ’45 – Mauthausen, Austria – We freed this camp a few days before the War was over – some of these are dead – some not yet”; Provenance: Gary Smith, 1512 English Drive, San Jose, CA 95129; tel. 408 725-0320; 1-888-741-5824

RG-09.02.03, Photograph, Mauthausen after liberation, a row of dead bodies

RG-09.03, Liberation of Majdanek, Collection of photographs (original photographs taken in July 1944)

RG-09.03.01, Two photographs depicting a mass grave in Majdanek concentration camp. One photograph shows the entire trench, the other is a close up on the dead bodies

RG-09.03.02, Photograph, Hanging on the site of the Majdanek concentration camp, apparently an execution of the Nazi collaborators after liberation

RG-09.03.03, Four emaciated female survivors of the Majdanek concentration camp. Camera depicts them from the back

RG-09.03.04, Photograph, Majdanek after liberation, a pile of corpses

RG-09.03.05, Photograph, Majdanek after liberation, Soviet soldiers examine the dead prisoners

RG-09.03.06, Photograph, Majdanek, a dead prisoner on the barbed wire

RG-09.03.07, Photograph, Majdanek, an emaciated female survivor, camera depicts her from the back

RG-09.03.08, Photograph, Majdanek, emaciated male survivors, depicted naked

RG-09.04, Liberation of Ravensbrück concentration camp

RG-09.04.01, Three photographs depicting: the crematoria, the execution passage, and the inside view of the prison with cells

RG-09.04.02, A photograph depicting a transport from the Ravensbrück concentration camp to Auschwitz

RG-09.05, Dachau concentration camp

RG-09.05.01, Photographs depicting a view of the former Dachau concentration camp as of 6 August 1945. The caption on the back states that the camp was an incarceration center for the prisoners of the SS

RG-09.05.01A, Photographs, Dachau in the aftermath of liberation, crime scenes, page one

RG-09.05.01B, Photographs, Dachau in the aftermath of liberation, crime scenes, page two

RG-09.05.01C, Photograph, Dachau in the aftermath of liberation, crime scenes, page three

RG-09.05.02, This sub-collection contains 20 photographs depicting Dachau Memorial Camp-Site in 1947. On the photographs one can see camp installations, execution sites, and devices of tortures. The latter are replicated as models

RG-09.05.02A, Dachau Memorial Site, page one

RG-09.05.02B, Dachau Memorial Site, page two

RG-09.05.02C, Dachau Memorial Site, page three

RG-09.05.02D, Dachau Memorial Site, page four

RG-09.05.02E, Dachau Memorial Site, page five

RG-09.05.03, Liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp; It is regarded that 12 photographs taken in April 1945 depict the crime scenes seen by the liberators of Dachau concentration camp. Ultimate identification is pending

RG-09.05.04, A stone from Dachau. Associated with the prisoner No. 52877

RG-09.05.05, A view of the former Dachau concentration camp in August 1945. Then the camp became an incarceration center for the SS prisoners

RG-09.06, Liberation of Gusen Concentration Camp

RG-09.06.01, Collection of photographs taken by the US soldiers in May 1945 after the camp was liberated. This collection contains 23 photographs depicting the Gusen concentration camp in the aftermath of liberation. Three photographs are unrelated to the camp theme: two of them depict the US soldiers embarking on an ocean ship, and one photograph, presumably, shows a street view of an Austrian town

RG-09.06.01A, Photographs, Gusen concentration camp in the aftermath of the liberation, page one

RG-09.06.01B, Photographs, Gusen concentration camp in the aftermath of the liberation, page two

RG-09.06.01C, Photographs, Gusen concentration camp in the aftermath of the liberation, page three

RG-09.06.01D, Photographs, Gusen concentration camp in the aftermath of the liberation, page four

RG-09.06.01E, Photographs, Gusen concentration camp in the aftermath of the liberation, page five

RG-09.07, Liberation of Buchenwald Concentration Camp; Approximately 21,000 victims of the Nazi regime were liberated when troops of the Third U.S. Army seized the camp on April 13, 1945. It is estimated that in the previous 10 years more than 70,000 opponents to National Socialism had been starved and murdered in this camp

RG-09.07.01, Collection of photographs depicting post-liberation scenes and activities in the former Buchenwald concentration camp. This collection consists of 12 photographs that are copies from the originals

RG-09.07.01.01, Buchenwald, a pile of corpses in a room with a tiled floor with a drain

RG-09.07.01.02, Buchenwald, crematory with skeletons in the foreground

RG-09.07.01.03, Buchenwald, eight inmates displaying wounds on their feet

RG-09.07.01.04, Buchenwald, flatbed truck piled high with corpses, surrounded by US military personnel

RG-09.07.01.05, Buchenwald, flatbed double axle trailer piled high with corpses

RG-09.07.01.06, Buchenwald, flatbed truck piled high with corpses, close up to the heads

RG-09.07.01.07, Buchenwald, flatbed truck piled with corpses, two US solders standing aside

RG-09.07.01.08, Buchenwald, flatbed truck piled with corpses, German civilians are forced to watch on

RG-09.07.01.09, Buchenwald, ledger book with names of registered prisoners

RG-09.07.01.10, Buchenwald after liberation, men place corpses on the cart

RG-09.07.01.11, Buchenwald, two men examine a pile of corpses near the building

RG-09.07.01.12, Buchenwald, US troops are in the foreground, the camp barracks are in the background

RG-09.07.01.13, Buchenwald Camp, British Parliamentary Report in the aftermath of the liberation

RG-09.07.01.14, German women are brought from Weimar to see the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp

RG-09.07.01.15, This heap of ashes and bones represents only one day’s killing of prisoners in Buchenwald concentration camp

RG-09.07.01.16, Buchenwald concentration camp. On the foreground, there is a Hungarian Jew, prisoner of the camp. He reached a point of starvation where the outline of his backbone literally could be seen  from the front of his body.

RG-09.07.02, Patricia Fishtein Collection, Liberation of concentration camp sites, 32 photographs. Buchenwald and Ohrdruf, April 1945

RG-09.07.03, Clifton Gallup Collection of postliberation photographs taken in the Buchenwald concentration camp

RG-09.07.03.01, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 1 of 22

RG-09.07.03.02, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 2 of 22

RG-09.07.03.03, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 3 of 22

RG-09.07.03.04, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 4 of 22

RG-09.07.03.05, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 5 of 22

RG-09.07.03.06, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 6 of 22

RG-09.07.03.07, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 7 of 22

RG-09.07.03.08, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 8 of 22

RG-09.07.03.09, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 9 of 22

RG-09.07.03.10, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 10 of 22

RG-09.07.03.11, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 11 of 22

RG-09.07.03.12, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 12 of 22

RG-09.07.03.13, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 13 of 22

RG-09.07.03.14, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 14 of 22

RG-09.07.03.15, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 15 of 22

RG-09.07.03.16, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 16 of 22

RG-09.07.03.17, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 17 of 22

RG-09.07.03.18, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 18 of 22

RG-09.07.03.19, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 19 of 22

RG-09.07.03.20, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 20 of 22

RG-09.07.03.21, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 21 of 22

RG-09.07.03.22, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photo 22 of 22

RG-09.07.03.23, Clifton Gallup Collection, Buchenwald photos envelope

RG-09.08, Liberation of Nordhausen Concentration Camp Collection: Nordhausen was a subsidiary camp of the Dora-Mittelbau production complex and concentration camp. The SS authorities established Nordhausen camp for prisoners too weak or too ill to work in the tunnels of Dora on the manufacturing of the German V1 and V2 missiles. Nordhausen concentration camp is shown shortly after liberation: 25 photographs depicting lying-on-the-ground corpses of prisoners scattered all over the camp and other camp scenes. The photographs were taken by US military personnel of the 1151 Combat Engineer Group. The camp was liberated on 12 April 1945.

RG-09.08.01, Sig Halbreich photo collection of liberation of Nazi concentration camps, Dora-Nordhausen; This collection includes 34 photographs taken in the aftermath of the camp liberation

RG-09.08.02, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, a bunker used by SS during Allied bombing

RG-09.08.03, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, US soldiers oversee Germans digging graves

RG-09.08.04, Dora-Nordhausen, 25 photographs, in the aftermath of liberation

RG-09.08.05, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, US military doctors inspecting corpses

RG-09.08.06, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, mass graves organized after the war

RG-09.08.07, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, mass graves of crosses and Jewish stars

RG-09.08.08, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, mass grave dug by Germans at order of the American military

RG-09.08.09, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, German civilians place corpses into mass grave

RG-09.08.10, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, American doctors inspecting corpses

RG-09.08.11, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, American doctor performing autopsy

RG-09.08.12, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, displaced persons camp, survivors

RG-09.08.13, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, tunnels where rocket parts were manufactured

RG-09.08.14, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, entrance to tunnels

RG-09.08.15, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, a prisoner in the foreground

RG-09.08.16, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, barracks with banks

RG-09.08.17, Photograph, Dora-Nordhausen, electric fences

RG-09.09, Liberation of Landsberg Concentration Camp Collection; Seven photographs of postliberation at the site of Landsberg Concentration Camp taken by a U.S. military serviceman from the 12^th Armored Division

RG-09.10, Zeymour Herman Collection; This collection of photographs was donated by Zeymour Herman of Van Nuys. Although the photographs are not dated, the museum accession records date them to March 1945. It is likely that this concentration camp was located in the American theater of war zone at the end of the war. There is no certainty in what concentration camp these photographs were taken; Original archive description: “Photos of bombed building, army vehicles, concentration camp postcard (March 1945), newspaper”; Provenance: Zeymour Herman, 6525 Ventura Can., Van Nuys, CA 91401; Accession #: 89.64.02; Accession Date: 5 December 1989

RG-09.10.01, Zeymour Herman Collection, Liberation of a concentration camp, six photographs; Photograph #1, A concentration camp lane or area between two rows of barracks. The photograph is taken looking through barbed wire; Photograph #2, Soldiers walking down a concentration camp lane or area between two rows of barracks, backs facing the camera. The foreground shows the electric barbed wire fence; Photograph #3, A concentration camp lane or area between two rows of barracks. Emaciated corpses lie in the background; Photograph #4, Men walking by a pile of corpses, both nude and in uniform, in front of building 16 at a concentration camp. The man walking in the foreground is a blur; Photograph #5, Double photograph – On the left, an American soldier is getting off the back of a jeep; on the right, a photograph of a building at a concentration camp. Dead bodies are piled in front of the building; Photograph #6, Close-up of a pile of dead corpses, some nude and some with uniform. The pile is next to a row of buildings at a concentration camp

RG-09.11, Various post-liberation photographs

RG-09.11.01, Photograph, Monument to victims of the concentration camp Stutthof, Poland

RG-09.11.02, Photograph, Soldiers walking down a concentration camp lane or area between two rows of barracks, backs facing the camera

RG-09.11.03, Photograph, Monument to Victims of Chelmno death camp, Poland

RG-09.11.04, Photograph, Ebensee concentration camp, liberated prisoners, Austria, May 1945

RG-09.11.05, Photograph, Woebbelin and Ebensee camps liberated (left); prisoner freed from Woebbelin camp (right)

RG-09.12, Kurt Wittler Collection

RG-09.12.01, Kurt Wittler, Nazi crimes in the camps, photo-documents

RG- 09.13, Documentary from the USHMM, Nazi atrocities by the War Department, narrated

RG-09.14, Letter from Mr. Smith

RG-09.15, Anthony Hinds Collection

RG-09.15.01, Human remains, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.02, Corpses, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.03, Reconstruction of a body being dragged in a crematory, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.04, Pile of human remains, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.05, Cart filled with human remains being wheeled along a sidewalk

RG-09.15.06, Three men look down into a mass grave full of human remains

RG-09.15.07, A cart filled with human remains sits in front of the barracks

RG-09.15.08, A truck containing disheveled clothing reads 'OFF LIMITS'

RG-09.15.09, Three American soldiers in front of a pile of human remains

RG-09.15.10, Close-up of a pile of human remains, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.11, Close-up of a pile of human remains with two clearly defined skulls in the foreground

RG-09.15.12, Close-up of the lower half of a human skeleton in a crematory

RG-09.15.13, Pile of tattered clothing and other personal belongings

RG-09.15.14, Re-creation of a cremation, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.15, Two men lift the arm and leg of a corpse, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.15.16, Reconstruction of a crematory scene, post-liberation of a concentration camp

RG-09.16, Postwar Camp Memorial Sites

RG-09.16.01, Postcards of Ravensbrück Memorial, Eight black and white postcards. Text is in German

RG-09.16.02, Stutthof Guide Book, 1968. Language: English. A guidebook detailing the history of the camp. Includes black-and-white photographs of the camp during the war

RG-09.16.03, “What was it like in the Concentration Camp at Dachau?” Written by Dr. Johann Neuhausler, Auxiliary Bishop of Munich, translated from the German, 8^th ed.

Accession #: 82.385; A book written by Dr. Johann Neuhausler, Auxiliary Bishop of Munich, who was a “special prisoner” confined in the “Bunker” (jail) of the Dachau concentration camp because he spoke to the Priest and other bishops about National Socialist injustices. The book draws from his personal experiences as a prisoner and from other publications about Dachau

RG-09.16.04, Memorial booklet, Dated 16 April 1967, Provenance: Alex Schwartz (Kopfl) and Family, Accession #: 84.165; Language: Polish

RG-09.16.05, Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Memorial Wimples, c. 1960-70s. Two Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Memorial Wimples, c. 1960-70s. One side is blue-and-white-striped with the upside-down red triangle of a political prisoner.  The back depicts a black graphic logo of barbed wires and a watchtower

RG-09.16.06, Treblinka, Memorial booklet, Provenance: The Library of Benjamin Grey,

Language: English, Two Treblinka Memorial booklets containing text in English and black-and-white photographs

Allied discovery of Nazi war crimes
evidences of the crimes of National Socialist regime
liberation of Nazi concentration camps, Europe

Repository: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Access Restrictions: no restrictions

Use Restrictions:

Copyrighted materials, credits to and references to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust are required

Digital copies might be available upon request

Preferred Citation: RG-09, Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps and Camp Site Memorials. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Archive.

Processing Information: Materials are primarily described using the local descriptive standards of the LA Museum of the Holocaust.