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Group portrait of young children dressed in costumes [probably for a Purim celebration in the Deggendorf] displaced persons camp,

Photograph | Photograph Number: 70577
Group portrait of young children dressed in costumes [probably for a Purim celebration in the Deggendorf] displaced persons camp,

Group portrait of young children dressed in costumes [probably for a Purim celebration in the Deggendorf] displaced persons camp,

Date
Circa 1945 - 1949
Locale
Deggendorf, [Bavaria] Germany ?
Photo Designation
DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- DP Camps/Postwar Communities -- Germany -- Deggendorf
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Diana Buckhantz

About This Photograph

Biography
William Buckhantz (born Vladimir Buckhantz), the father of the donor, was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on September 24, 1902. William Buckhantz immigrated to South Africa in 1939 and then came to the United States. He was conscripted into the American Army and sent overseas during the occupation to serve as an UNRRA officer in the Regensburg and Deggendorf displaced persons camps. While working for UNRRA, he reunited with his brother Boris (Benzion, b. 1901), his wife Jenny (nee Faros, b. 1906) and their son Abba (later Allen, b. 1923) who had survived the Kovno ghetto and Dachau concentration camp. After returning to the States in 1949, William Buckhantz married Araxia Margery Gulbenkian who he met while in training at Fort Slocum before leaving for Europe.

Besides William only one other sister Rochelle (later Zeidel) entirely escaped the Holocaust. She had immigrated to Palestine before the war. William's mother Cecilia died in the Kovno ghetto. His father Solomon was taken from the synagogue never to be seen again. Another brother Jascha survived in hiding in France. A third brother, Naum (Noah) was killed by Lithuanian fascists shortly after the German invasion in 1941. His younger sister Sonia perished during the Holocaust with her husband and two children after the Germans blew up their bunker.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Diana Buckhantz
Source Record ID: Collections: 2014.73.1
 
Record last modified: 2014-10-30 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1179341