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Photo album page showing the crematoria and gas chambers in Buchenwald.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 44606
Photo album page showing the crematoria and gas chambers in Buchenwald. Original caption reads: "Buchenwald was the home of Ilsa Koch, wife of the Commandant. She was known as the "bitch of Buchenwald", an insult to every dog who ever lived. She had her inmates tatooed in various designs, then had them killed, then skinned and their hides tanned to make book bindings, lamp shades, and other articles. I saw these things! One story has it that she enjoyed sexual intercourse with her victims- this may be apocryphal. These "meat hooks" were used on the bodies of humans! (the creamatorium) Our English speaking guide later proved to be a Belgian renegade prisoner who worked for the Nazis. I believe he was summarily executed some days later."

Photo album page showing the crematoria and gas chambers in Buchenwald.

Original caption reads: "Buchenwald was the home of Ilsa Koch, wife of the Commandant. She was known as the "bitch of Buchenwald", an insult to every dog who ever lived. She had her inmates tatooed in various designs, then had them killed, then skinned and their hides tanned to make book bindings, lamp shades, and other articles. I saw these things! One story has it that she enjoyed sexual intercourse with her victims- this may be apocryphal. These "meat hooks" were used on the bodies of humans!

(the creamatorium)

Our English speaking guide later proved to be a Belgian renegade prisoner who worked for the Nazis. I believe he was summarily executed some days later."

Date
1945 April 11
Locale
Buchenwald, [Thuringia] Germany
Photo Designation
MAJOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS 1940-45 -- Buchenwald -- LIBERATION -- Crematoria/Gas Chambers/Human Remains
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Tom Morgan

About This Photograph

Biography
Prentice G. Morgan (the father of the donor) was a member of Patton's Third Army. Morgan participated in the liberation of Buchenwald. He created a small photograph album consisting of eleven photographs of the liberation and his commentary about what he witnessed in the camp. The photographs depict American military personnel in the camp, camp buildings, summary justice, military personnel viewing anatomical artifacts belonging to Ilse Koch, and the burial of victims.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Tom Morgan
 
Record last modified: 2022-01-31 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1168299