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Two American soldiers pose with former members of the Wehrmacht

Photograph | Photograph Number: 70834
Two American soldiers pose with former members of the Wehrmacht Norman Coulson is second from the left standing next to the other American soldier.

Two American soldiers pose with former members of the Wehrmacht

Norman Coulson is second from the left standing next to the other American soldier.

Date
April 1945 - April 1946
Locale
Dachau, [Bavaria] Germany
Photo Designation
MAJOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS 1940-45 -- Dachau -- LIBERATION -- Liberators/Greeting Liberators/Celebrations
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Norman Coulson

About This Photograph

Biography
Norman Coulson (b. March 10, 1920) trained briefly as an architect before he was drafted into the
U.S. Army in 1943 at the age of 21. In May 1945 he volunteered for a posting to the architectural/engineering office of the newly liberated Dachau concentration camp. Following the liberation of Dachau, the American army announced that it needed a trained architect to prepare the camp to house German war criminals. He arrived at Dachau three days after liberation. With neither a defined chain of command nor clearly articulated orders, one hundred American soldiers were assigned the daunting task of overseeing the dispersal of thirty-thousand prisoners from thirty-one countries in addition to supervising the executions of captured SS guards. During his year at Dachau, Norman provided architectural drawings for renovations to the camp to accommodate the onsite trials of war criminals and designed gallows that shielded the executions from public view in light of increasing interest from the international press. He remained at Dachau for a full year before returning to the States. After leaving the army, Norman Coulson became a licensed architect in five states, and he served as the chief architect of the Baltimore City Hall.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Norman Coulson
 
Record last modified: 2014-04-29 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1179435