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Survivors in Dachau berate an SS guard captured by U.S. troops, while in the background American soldiers summarily execute other camp guards.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 82952
Survivors in Dachau berate an SS guard captured by U.S. troops, while in the background American soldiers summarily execute other camp guards.

Survivors in Dachau berate an SS guard captured by U.S. troops, while in the background American soldiers summarily execute other camp guards.

Photographer
Arland B. Musser
Date
1945 April 29
Photo Designation
MAJOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS 1940-45 -- Dachau -- LIBERATION -- Summary Justice/Revenge
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
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About This Photograph

Event History
On April 29, 1945 members of the 1st Company, 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry, under the command of Lt. Col. Felix L. Sparks, entered Dachau. There they discovered a train of 36 boxcars bearing the corpses of prisoners who had been transferred to Dachau from other camps in the last weeks of the war. As the soldiers advanced, they found stacks of bodies in other parts of the camp and thousands of emaciated survivors. They rounded up the remaining camp guards as they found them. At some point, it was reported, one of the Gis blurted out, "No prisoners!" Approximately 60 guards were then lined up against a wall and gunned down by members of the 1st Company. Others were shot in one of the boxcars or beaten to death outside with the participation of a few survivors. Pfc. John Lee and others from the unit were later summoned by military investigators to give testimony about the killings and to supply photographs. A report was written and submitted to General George Patton, commander of the 3rd Army, who chose not to take any action. The report, a copy of which was deposited in the National Archives, remained secret until 1991, when it was quietly declassified.

[Source: Wood, David, "For Memorial Day, A Painful Inquiry into the Grim Nature of War," May 22, 2001 (e-mail submission from david.wood@newhouse.com)]

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Source Record ID: 111-SC-208766 (Album 5293)
KZ-Gedenkstaette Dachau
Copyright: Exclusively with source
Source Record ID: Dok. 2965
 
Record last modified: 2006-10-04 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa12468