Crematoriums at Dachau concentration camp, Germany, 1945

Gift in Memory of Jack Hershkowitz
Description: 

Photograph, blurry. Two open crematoriums. Personal caption on reverse: "Dachau - Germany Sept '45 / Crematorium Ovens where human bodies were burned / Note the flower pot on top of the oven - Human ashes were seal in these pots & sent to the family. There was a charge for the ashes." Dachau, Germany. September 1945

Image Information

Accession Number: 
Date: 
1945-09-
Location: 
Hometown: 
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Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Jack Hershkowitz, who was a switchboard operator in the 512th Field Artillery Battalion, Third Army in the European Theater of Operations. Hershkowitz was born on 18 February 1912 in New York, New York. He was working as a public service inspector in Lakewood, New Jersey, when he enlisted in the United States Army on 8 July 1943 and was called to active duty on 29 July. On 2 July 1944, Hershkowitz was shipped out to the European Theater of Operations and assigned to the 512th Field Artillery Battalion. By December, He was in Luxemburg, and in Germany by March 1945. Hershkowitz and his unit celebrated VE-Day in Czechoslovakia [modern-day Czech Republic] and were then assigned the task of overseeing Russian displaced persons and German prisoners of war. The 512th Fld. Arty. Bn. traveled throughout Germany to transport Russian troops and civilians from prisoner of war camps to transit camps. One notable location the unit traveled to was Dachau concentration camp. In September 1945, the unit began to make its way from Germany to Camp Brooklyn near Reims, France. They arrived in the camp in October and began their journey across the Atlantic Ocean on 23 November 1945. Hershkowitz arrived in the United States on 13 December 1945 and was honorably discharged on 20 December in Fort Dix, New Jersey. On 10 July 1982, Jack Hershkowitz passed away. The collection includes a field journal, photograph album, postcards, and over 200 photographs. The photographs feature life in the field, displaced persons camps, prisoners of war, Dachau concentration camp, and interactions with local populations.
Geography: 
Dachau
Latitude: 
48.267
Longitude: 
11.433
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Concentration camps--Germany
Crematoriums--Germany
Bridges--France