Ohrdruf concentration camp photographs
Collection Overview
Four atrocity photographs of concentration camp victims in Ohrdruf, a satellite camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Also included are two clippings describing the liberation of Ohrdruf by the 89th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army.
Dates
- Creation: 1945, circa 2000
Creator
- United States. Army (Organization)
Language of Material
Materials in English
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
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The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
Biographical and Historical Note
Ohrdruf concentration camp, the first camp to be liberated by U.S. troops during World War II, was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. It was established in November 1944 near Gotha, Germany. Prisoners in the camp were forced to work on the construction of a railroad to a proposed communications center, but the rapid advancement of the U.S. Army forced the Nazis to abandon these plans.
Wilbur "Jim" Burrows, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army with the 89th Infantry Division, moved into Germany near Buchenwald in early April 1945. As his unit neared Ohrdruf, the Germans evacuated camp prisoners on a forced march to Buchenwald. Inmates who were unable to walk to Buchenwald were shot or left to die in Ohrdruf. A platoon runner in Burrows's unit took photographs of the bodies they found on the road and in the crematorium and distributed the photographs to others, including Burrows.
Extent
1 folder
Abstract
Four atrocity photographs of concentration camp victims in Ohrdruf, a satellite camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Also included are two clippings describing the liberation of Ohrdruf by the U.S. Army.
Collection Arrangement
Materials are described at the folder level.
Acquisitions Information
Materials donated in 2005 by Wilbur Jim
Burrows.
Processing Information
Processed by Rebecca McClure, October 2011.
- Title
- Inventory of the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp Photographs, 1945, circa 2000
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by: Rebecca McClure; machine-readable finding aid created by: Rebecca McClure
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources supported the processing of this collection and encoding of the finding aid.
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections Repository
Special Collections
College of Charleston Libraries
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Charleston South Carolina 29424
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(843) 953-6319 (Fax)