I have a color photo my grandfather took the day Dachau was liberated. Its very similar to one I find using google search of to men pushing a body into an oven. The difference is that in my picture the two men are not present, its just the body in color. My question is how prevalent are color pictures like mine and what should I do with it?
ww2grandson, As you probably know staged photos similar to what you describe were taken at Dachau that were offered for sale to U.S. soldiers who visited the camp after it's liberation. They are from the collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and are shown in B&W. There is no mention in what form they were sold. The experts at the museum may be able to help with your queries. A search of YouTube will turn up colour footage scenes taken at Dachua. Needless to say it's very shocking material. Regards ...
At some point I may post the pic here. Until I determine its value, if any, I wont. I am 95% certain my grandfather took it as he was there the day the camp was captured, he took 700+ other color photos during the war which this photo is in the middle of and labeled in his photo journal. He also took several black and white photos at the camp that day and at another concentration camp in France at some point which I had never heard about. I guess I will contact the museum directly as mentioned by Cee. I did do a brief image search on google and didn't see any during capture color pics. All the color ones I was seeing were after it became a museum. I thought this slide may be fairly unique. I don't want to search much more. I really don't have tolerance for looking at bodies and no interest in it. I'm fully aware of what happened and I'm proud my pure blooded German American grandfather spent four years of his life fighting for good old USA. Ive been in the Army myself know on what side I would have been on also, but the older I get and the more I accept my agnostic belief the more I look at war and just can't believe we as humans actually have time for this. We are just so very lucky that more people choose to do good than bad.
Hi ww2grandson, Like you Dachau is not an area I want to delve into too deeply - it's just too depressing. But if your Grandfather was there as you say the photos he took could be important if never seen before. The liberation of Dachau was particularly controversial with a number of wildly varying accounts as to what took place. I found the following which I just breezed through quite interesting. I'm not familiar with all the American units mentioned there, my interest being mostly British Airborne: DACHAU AND ITS LIBERATION - FELIX L. SPARKS At some point official war photographers and cinematographers would have arrived to document for posterity the horror of what took place. This is just one moment in your Grandfather's varied war experience which he documented so meticulously. You have a collection that is both precious and monumental in scope. My only advice if you intend to post further is to keep them together in one thread (the one you began with for example). That way they don't get lost in the shuffle of the literally thousands of threads on WW2Talk. I look forward to anything more you may unravel on your Grandfather in the coming months. Liberation of BUCHENWALD and DACHAU Concentration Camp (Colour) - YouTube All the best ...
Keep an eye open for it PLEASE. This photo was in a network TV documentary around summer of 2007 ? It was taken outside in a wooded area ; no leaves on trees officers in over coats. About 6 Nazi SS officers ( colonels) - Hitler in the middle - standing side by side facing camera. Every body in black uniforms except the last officer on the right, holding his hands behind his back He is wearing a brown uniform with a splash of red on chest & a thin red line in hat band. An acquaintance of almost 50 years - I have not confronted him about this.
