Survivors sit amidst the rubble of the Nordhausen concentration camp.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 54679

Photographer: William B. Curtis
Date: April 1945
Locale: Nordhausen, [Thuringia] Germany
Photo Designation: MAJOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS 1940-45 -- Dora-Mittelbau Sub-camps -- Nordhausen -- LIBERATION -- Survivors/Medical Care
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Diane Kathryn Lavett

Biography: William Bostwick Curtis III was in the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA, during the Second World War. He had been a spy behind enemy lines earlier in the war and his specialty was ordinance. Bill was the official army photographer as the first wave of US Army entered Nordhausen and, earlier, possibly Buchenwald. His rank was 1st Lieutenant at that time, but he remained in the army and eventually retired as a full colonel. He was ordered to hand over all photographs and negatives but obviously did not comply. Bill never discussed his experiences during the Second World War, but he was haunted the rest of his life by them.
Keyword: CONCENTRATION CAMPS
DORA-MITTELBAU
GROUP PORTRAITS
NORDHAUSEN
RUINS/RUBBLE
SURVIVORS
Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Diane Kathryn Lavett

Source Record ID: Collections: 2010.186.1
: Record last modified: 2011-05-09 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1174222

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