us-005578-irn1004599
type: RecordSet
date: after April 1945
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: Silent
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn1004599
note: Historical information taken from USHMM Photo Archives records - refer to the Photo Archive for photographs of these events.
scope and content: (LIB 6591) Estedt, Germany. German civilians smooth dirt over fresh graves in a fenced area, then pound grave markers (crosses) into the dirt. A group of Polish former forced laborers led by a man in a Polish army uniform, carries a large wreath with a red and white ribbon in a procession (Polish funeral march). Wreath inscribed with"Od Polaków z Estetu ku czci pomordowanych rodakó" [From the Poles of (in) Estet in honor of their murdered countrymen]. They wear small badges (the purple P on a yellow square) on their breasts. They enter the fenced area with the wreath. Several American soldiers (probably from the 102nd Armored Division) stand on one side. A Catholic priest conducts a funeral service. CUs of people (probably German civilians; a couple of the men wear top hats) attending the service. CU of woman wearing a badge with a"" on it. American soldiers shoot their rifles into the air in a salute. View of the empty cemetery, with a valley beyond. During a death march of Polish, Soviet, and Jewish prisoners from Mieste to Gardelegen, a number of prisoners escaped into the Zichtauer forest, where some of them were spotted by local farmers, who immediately alerted the police. The prisoners were captured and marched to a site near Estedt. There they were shot and buried in a mass grave. There were some 1016 prisoners from several death marches who were brought in together. The Americans were approaching and the Nazis killed them on April 13, 1945; the area was liberated on April 14, 1945. The funeral participants might have been forced laborers (even POWs in forced labor) who witnessed the event and funeral. 02:31:50 (LIB 6111) Solingen-Ohligs, Germany. Shot from above, German civilians exhume corpses under American guard. CUs of the partially and then fully exhumed bodies. 02:32:35 Rows of exhumed corpses arranged on a hillside (see Photo Archives worksheet 08177 for matching frame).The corpses are those of 71 political prisoners taken from Luettringhausen prison …
title: Forced burial of victims by German civilians