Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Sign found by Sidney Bruskin, an American soldier, at the liberation at Ebensee concentration camp. The sign was removed from above an oven door inside the crematorium. The text is an epitaph expressing a wish for cremation. Bruskin served with the 80th Infantry Division Counter Intelligence Corps.
- Date
-
found:
1945 May 06
- Geography
-
found:
Ebensee (Concentration camp);
Nordhausen (Thuringia, Germany)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Sydney Bruskin
- Markings
- front, black ink : Nicht Efle Wurmer Soll'n Einft von meinem Leichnam hajr'n! Die reine flamme soll mich einft verzehr'n. Ich liebte stets die Warme und dos Licht Drum verbrennt mich und begrabt mich nicht. [No loathesome worms should feast on my body. [Instead] the pure flames should consume it. I always loved the warmth and light, and for that reason you should not bury but cremate me.]
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Classification
-
Posters
- Category
-
War propaganda
- Object Type
-
Posters, German (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Rectangular sign made from a double layered primary support of 2 offwhite pieces of paper adhered, one on top of the other, and then adhered to a larger piece of dark brown pressed fiberboard. On the front is a pencilled drawing of candles and a flame and handwritten, calligraphic German in black writing ink on a light brown background. The image is drawn on top of the text. There is an address label on the reverse.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm) | Width: 13.125 inches (33.338 cm)
- Materials
- overall : paper, fiberboard, ink, graphite, adhesive
- Inscription
- reverse, label : Sydney Bruskin
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The sign was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993 by Sydney Bruskin.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-25 17:22:29
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn8121
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Also in Sidney Bruskin collection
The collection consists of a sign relating to the experiences of Sidney Bruskin as a soldier in the United States Army in Germany during World War II. Also includes a photograph and document. Some of these materials may be combined into a single collection in the future.
Date: 1945 May
Ebensee liberation photograph
Document
Contains a picture taken by Sydney Bruskin, an American soldier with the 80th Infantry Division Counter Intelligence Corps, at the liberation of the Ebensee Concentration Camp. The person in the background of the image is a liberator.
Memorandum
Document
The memorandum is marked "Secret" and was issued by the Counter Intelligence Corps of the United States Army. It lists regulations of a mission in Altaussee, Austria, to protect art treasures, continue steps to administer area and arrest those who come within scope of CIC, and recover property.
