W.B. Curtis, III collection

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

William Bostwick Curtis, III, was in the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA, during the Second World War. He had been a spy behind enemy lines earlier in the war and his specialty was ordinance. Bill was the official army photographer as the first wave of US Army entered Nordhausen and, earlier, possibly Buchenwald. His rank was 1st Lieutenant at that time, but he remained in the army and eventually retired as a full colonel. He was ordered to hand over all photographs and negatives but obviously did not comply. Bill never discussed his experiences during the Second World War, but he was haunted the rest of his life by them. 

W.B. Curtis, III collection 

Photo album: containing photographs primarily taken by William Bostwick Curtis, III (donor's stepfather) documenting the liberation of the Nordhausen concentration camp; images show victims, newly liberated prisoners, rockets and munitions built at the factory, American soldiers at work and rest, as well as general scenery; dated 1945