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American military officers meet with officials from UNRRA and the Joint Distribution Committee in the Landsberg displaced persons camp.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 31963
American military officers meet with officials from UNRRA and the Joint Distribution Committee in the Landsberg displaced persons camp. Pictured from left to right are: Captain David Trott, Rabbi Abraham Rosenberg from the JDC, Hy Stuchin from the Canadian Joint Distribution Committee, and Mr. Craddock director of UNRRA. Also pictured are Major Irving Heymont and General William McBride.

American military officers meet with officials from UNRRA and the Joint Distribution Committee in the Landsberg displaced persons camp.

Pictured from left to right are: Captain David Trott, Rabbi Abraham Rosenberg from the JDC, Hy Stuchin from the Canadian Joint Distribution Committee, and Mr. Craddock director of UNRRA. Also pictured are Major Irving Heymont and General William McBride.

Photographer
George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
Date
October 1945
Locale
Landsberg, [Bavaria] Germany
Variant Locale
Landsberg Am Lech
Photo Designation
DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- DP Camps/Postwar Communities -- Germany: Major Centers -- Landsberg -- Official Visits
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Irving Heymont

About This Photograph

Biography
Major Irving Heymont was an officer in the 5th Infantry Regiment of the US army that liberated the Gunskirchen concentration camp, a subcamp of Mauthausen. He was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action. When the war ended, he was tasked to run the displaced persons camp in Landsberg, Germany, where he remained during the summer and fall of 1945. He reported to General Onslow Rolfe and eventually to General Craig who succeeded General Patton as head of the Third Army. Heymont was responsible for moving non-Jews out of Landsberg and for abolishing the pass system which had restricted the freedom of movement of the Jewish DPs. He limited the function of the guards at the gate to keeping strangers out; not keeping Jews in. Though Heymont never disclosed his Jewish background to his fellow officers or the Jewish DPs, his work at Landsberg was shaped by the knowledge that "had my father not fled Russia, my family might have been inhabitants of the camp." His letters back to his wife, which were later published, describe the lack of sanitation and poverty of the camps as well as the efforts of Jewish DPs to establish schools and medical care.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Irving Heymont
Source Record ID: Collections: 2004.80
 
Record last modified: 2004-11-22 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1110693