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Two soldiers from the 42nd Rainbow Division and a liberated prisoner fish the body of an SS guard out of the moat surrounding the Dachau concentration camp.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 94866

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    Two soldiers from the 42nd Rainbow Division and a liberated prisoner fish the body of an SS guard out of the moat surrounding the Dachau concentration camp.
    Two soldiers from the 42nd Rainbow Division and a liberated prisoner fish the body of an SS guard out of the moat surrounding the Dachau concentration camp. The S soldier on the right has been identified as Richard F Dutro of Zanesville Ohio, 232 Infantry, E Company. The original caption reads, "Dachau Concentration Camp. Horrors worse than those found in the German concentration camps of Buchenwald and Belsen were discovered in the stinking hell-hole of Dachau, captured by troops of the 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions of the Seventh U.S. Army April 30, 1945. More than 32,000 prisoners were liberated, among them some Englishmen, Canadians and Americans. The camp was formally surrendered by an SS lieutenant carrying a white flag, accompanied by a Swiss Red Cross official, but SS troops opened fire as American troops approached the main entrance. The Germans were shot down. Three prisoners were electrocuted when they tried to burst through the electrified wire barrier to welcome the Americans. SS guards opened fire on other prisoners who went wild with joy and rushed to meet the liberating troops. Prisoners with access to records said 9,000 people died of hunger, disease or shooting within the past three months at Dachau. Four thousand more perished during cold Winter months. When Americans entered the camp, they found 50 open railway cars standing on a siding, apparently full of dirty clothing but actually found to contain hundreds of corpses piled on top of each other. They also found a row of kennels where fierce dogs were kept to set after escaping men. They discovered gas extermination chambers, incinerators full of naked bodies, bodies marked for dissection and the bodies of several small children. This photo shows: Two soldiers of the 42nd "Rainbow" Division, Seventh U.S. Army, are assisted by a liberated political prisoner as they pull the body of a dead Nazi SS guard from the moat surrounding the camp. Other liberated prisoners in the background watch from behind the former electrified fence. Some SS guards were killed and thrown into the moat by the liberated prisoners, others by American soldiers."

    Overview

    Caption
    Two soldiers from the 42nd Rainbow Division and a liberated prisoner fish the body of an SS guard out of the moat surrounding the Dachau concentration camp.

    The S
    soldier on the right has been identified as Richard F Dutro of Zanesville Ohio, 232 Infantry, E Company.

    The original caption reads, "Dachau Concentration Camp. Horrors worse than those found in the German concentration camps of Buchenwald and Belsen were discovered in the stinking hell-hole of Dachau, captured by troops of the 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions of the Seventh U.S. Army April 30, 1945. More than 32,000 prisoners were liberated, among them some Englishmen, Canadians and Americans. The camp was formally surrendered by an SS lieutenant carrying a white flag, accompanied by a Swiss Red Cross official, but SS troops opened fire as American troops approached the main entrance. The Germans were shot down. Three prisoners were electrocuted when they tried to burst through the electrified wire barrier to welcome the Americans. SS guards opened fire on other prisoners who went wild with joy and rushed to meet the liberating troops.

    Prisoners with access to records said 9,000 people died of hunger, disease or shooting within the past three months at Dachau. Four thousand more perished during cold Winter months. When Americans entered the camp, they found 50 open railway cars standing on a siding, apparently full of dirty clothing but actually found to contain hundreds of corpses piled on top of each other. They also found a row of kennels where fierce dogs were kept to set after escaping men. They discovered gas extermination chambers, incinerators full of naked bodies, bodies marked for dissection and the bodies of several small children.

    This photo shows: Two soldiers of the 42nd "Rainbow" Division, Seventh U.S. Army, are assisted by a liberated political prisoner as they pull the body of a dead Nazi SS guard from the moat surrounding the camp. Other liberated prisoners in the background watch from behind the former electrified fence. Some SS guards were killed and thrown into the moat by the liberated prisoners, others by American soldiers."
    Photographer
    Horace Abrahams
    Date
    1945 May 05
    Locale
    Dachau, [Bavaria] Germany
    Photo Credit
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of David Wittenstein
    Event History
    On April 29, 1945 members of the 1st Company, 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry, under the command of Lt. Col. Felix L. Sparks, entered Dachau. There they discovered a train of 36 boxcars bearing the corpses of prisoners who had been transferred to Dachau from other camps in the last weeks of the war. As the soldiers advanced, they found stacks of bodies in other parts of the camp and thousands of emaciated survivors. They rounded up the remaining camp guards as they found them. At some point, it was reported, one of the Gis blurted out, "No prisoners!" Approximately 60 guards were then lined up against a wall and gunned down by members of the 1st Company. Others were shot in one of the boxcars or beaten to death outside with the participation of a few survivors. Pfc. John Lee and others from the unit were later summoned by military investigators to give testimony about the killings and to supply photographs. A report was written and submitted to General George Patton, commander of the 3rd Army, who chose not to take any action. The report, a copy of which was deposited in the National Archives, remained secret until 1991, when it was quietly declassified.

    [Source: Wood, David, "For Memorial Day, A Painful Inquiry into the Grim Nature of War," May 22, 2001 (e-mail submission from david.wood@newhouse.com)]

    See https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005214.
    See Also "Dachau Main Camp" in Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, Volume 1, Part A.
    See Also https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005131.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Photo Source
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    Provenance: David Wittenstein
    Source Record ID: Keystone 490361
    Getty Images
    Copyright: Exclusively with source
    Provenance: Keystone (London)
    Source Record ID: Keystone 490361
    National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
    Copyright: Public Domain
    Source Record ID: 111-SC-203465
    KZ-Gedenkstaette Dachau
    Copyright: Exclusively with source
    Source Record ID: Dok. 2751
    Second Record ID: Dok. 3756
    bpk-Bildagentur
    Copyright: Agency Agreement
    Source Record ID: NS 836

    Keywords & Subjects

    Record last modified:
    2022-03-16 00:00:00
    This page:
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