Bidspirit auction | Young Prisoners of the Dachau

Young Prisoners of the Dachau Concentration Camp Cheering the Soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Army Who Liberated Them - A moving photograph of young prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp cheering the soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Army who liberated them at the time of the camp’s liberation – April 29, 1945. The photograph is described on its reverse by one of the liberating soldiers himself. Photographer: Horace Abrahams. A photograph documenting a group of prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp, including young inmates in striped camp uniforms, crowded behind the barbed-wire fence and cheering the American forces following the liberation of the camp. Dachau was liberated on April 29, 1945, by forces of the U.S. Seventh Army. On the reverse is a handwritten inscription by one of the American soldiers of the liberating forces: ”Dachau inmates cheer 7th U.S. Army liberators. Many of these prisoners were going to be killed by the Nazis the same week we liberated them” According to the Getty Images archive, the third boy from the left has been identified as 18-year-old Yehuda Kukiela. Another youth appearing in the photograph was later identified, according to his own testimony, as Steve Ross – Szmul (Schmul) Rozental, a Jewish survivor who was 14 years old when Dachau was liberated. Ross recalled that when the Americans arrived, he attempted to reach the camp gate despite his extreme weakness, and believed himself to be the first boy from the left, dressed in a striped prisoner uniform and leaning against the barbed-wire fence. This identification is based on Ross’s later testimony. The Dachau concentration camp was liberated on April 29, 1945, by American forces. The soldiers who entered the camp encountered thousands of prisoners in desperate condition and scenes that confronted them firsthand with the scale of the crimes committed by the Nazi regime. The liberation of Dachau became one of the most extensively documented and enduring images of the exposure of the concentration camps to the world. For the prisoners seen in the photograph, the sight of American soldiers beyond the fence marked the end of years of imprisonment, starvation, and terror – only days before the final surrender of Nazi Germany.Two divisions of the U.S. Seventh Army – the 42nd “Rainbow” Division and the 45th “Thunderbird” Division – participated in the liberation of the camp, while the 20th Armored Division provided support. It is estimated that more than 30,000 Jewish and political prisoners were liberated. 8 × 8 cm. Minor stains. Good condition.