An American soldier and local civilian official examine corpses found near Warstein. The victims were shot by German police prior to the arrival of U.S. troops.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 02027

Date: After April 1945
Locale: Warstein, [Prussian Westphalia; North Rhine-Westphalia] Germany
Photo Designation: LIBERATION -- Germany: Atrocities/Death March Victims -- Other -- Warstein
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

Event History: In January 1945, as the end of the war approached and Germany's defeat became imminent, an attempt was made to eliminate all enemies of the Third Reich. On January 24 the RSHA sent a telegram to the leaders of the local police offices in Duesseldorf, Muenster, Dortmund, and Cologne ordering the killing of all Communists and slave laborers in their custody. As a result, a large number of political prisoners were killed in North Rhine-Westphalia during the last few weeks of the war.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005131. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008065.
Keyword: ATROCITIES
CORPSES
FORCED CONFRONTATION
GERMANS
SOLDIERS/MILITARY (AMERICAN)
Photo Source: National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

Copyright: Public Domain

Source Record ID: 153-Case files 1944-49--box 313--file 12-639 to 12-646
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Robert Steinke

Source Record ID: Collections: 2004.10
: Record last modified: 2004-01-29 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa29819

Search Our Collections