Figure 1.--Here we see a Jewish boy at the Buckenwald concentration camp, probably taken in April 1945 after liberation of the camp. This is our assessment, there is no information assocuated with the photograph. Presunavly some information exists somwhere, but for now all we have to go on is the image. And there are many things we do not understand about this image. The photograph does clearly show, however, that there were some children at Buchenwald. Most were, however, teenagers and only a few younger children like the unidentified boy here. One report suggests that the photograph w taken June 16 and the boywas headed for Switzerland.

Here we see a Jewish boy at the Buckenwald concentration camp, probably taken in April 1945 after liberation of the camp. This is our assessment, there is no information assocuated with the photograph. Presunavly some information exists somwhere, but for now all we have to go on is the image. And there are many things we do not understand about this image. The photograph does clearly show, however, that there were some children at Buchenwald. Most were, however, teenagers and only a few younger children like the unidentified boy here.

Overview

We view the images posted on HBC as little historical documents. And this image not only is is not only no exceptiono, it raises awhole raft of questions about Buckewald and the children found there when the Americans liberated the camp. When we first sw this image because the boy and adults still had camp badges, we thought it wa taken just before the American Army liberated Buchenwald. After thinking about it, we concluded it was taken afew days after after liberation. And readers began asking some interesing questions. One reader wrote, "There are things about that photo that just don't add up. Like I pointed out before it is not just the kid who is better dressed then one would expect and not just that the woman is wearing what looks like almost new shoes the dress she is wearing was not something from her normal life. Look how long the sleeves are. This was made for a taller woman. Every one in the background is also well dressed and the man that the kid is looking at just might be an American soldier. His pants, shirt and jacket all seem to be the same colour and if you look at his belt buckle it looks like a typical sliding buckle that was as far as I know standard issue. Another thing is look at the arm badges of the prisoners. His is marked Buchenwald and has a downward pointing triangle while the woman's badge to me is not the same at all."

Boy

The boy pictured here is unidentified. We know nothing about him or why he was at Buchenwald. We are not sure what this Jewish boy is doing at Buchenwald. Buchenald was not a death camp, but a punishment labor camp. Children were not normaly sent to Buchewald. As they were not productive workers, they were sent to the ghettoes estabished in Poland or directly to the death camps. We can, however, decuce some basic information from the photograph. We believe he is Jewish. He looks Jewish and most of the children at Buchenwald were Jewish. He looks to be about 7-8 years old. As a result of poor nutrition, however, Jewish children were smaller and look younger than they were. No other infirmation about him is available. He is standing in front of a female prisoner. We doubt if they are related, Families were separated when they entered the concentration camps. And most of the children and women accompanying them were killed. There was probably not enough time for surviving family members to be reunited when this photograph was taken, but we are not sure. There were children at Buchenwald, but only a handful of younger children like the boy here. Unfortunately as he is unidentified we do not have the details of how he managed to survive.

Photography

There is no indication who took this photograph. We believe, however, it was the American press or military photigraphers that came to Buchewald after it was liberated. The Germand took photographs at the various camps. This included both official photographs as well as unofficial snapshots taken by SS-TV guards who were proud of what they were doing and wanted aecord, much as soldiers kept albums of their exploits. Much was presumably destroyed as the Allies closed in on the Reich. German photography declined as the war went wring for Hitler and the NAZIs. As a result, almost all of the ikmages from the camps at the the end of rhe War came form the liberators. One repoet suggests that this was an AP wire photo taken June 16. The boy is apparently heading for Switzerland with a group of other Jewidh orphans from Buchenwald.

Chronology

As we believe that the photograph was taken by the American press or a military photographer and they are still concentration camp clothes, the photograph was surely taken soon after liberation, probably just a matter of a few days. Thus it would be some time in April 1945. One source dates it a little later, June 19. Not only is there reason to believe that it was a post-liberation photograph as explained above, but the man at left seems to be an American, notice the military belt buckle. He is probably a civilian attached to the Army, such as a journalist, rather than a soldier--notice that he is nor wearing army boots.

Location

We beieve the photograph was surely taken in the Buchenwald concentraion camp. We do not believe that the prisoners would gve worn garments with hat patch long after they were liberated and surely not if they left the camp. Note that others are wearing camp patches, although we can not read them clearly like the one the boy is wearing. It simply says Buchnwald which clearly identifies the location.

Concentration Camp Badges

NAZI concentratiion camp varied from camp to camp in the vast NAZI empire. This was especially case for the camps established outside the Reich. We believe that Buchenwald followed the system developed at Dachau, the first NAZI concentation camp and used as a model for subsequent camps. They developed a very complicated system of symbols, primarily organized round triangles. The exact meaning depending on the color and other features. Jews were given a double tringle forming a Star of David. Color and other fearues definded different types of Jews. The bpy's badge here has an upsidedown colored triangle. Without knowing the color, we do not know what it represented, but we do know it was not a Jewish bage. This leads us go believe that it was a jacket given to the boy from a wearhouse after the camp was liberated. (Concentration camps had large supplies of clothes taken from prisoners arriving in civilian clothes.) We can see the adults also wearing camp badges, but with out aby triangle symbol. Their badges are less clear, but we believe they read KL Buchenwald. That meant Konzentrationslager (concentration camp), commonly abbreciated KZ or KL. The badges here seem to read 'KL Buchenwald', but do not seem to reveal the inviduals group (criminal, Gypsey, homosexual, Jehova Witness, Jew, political crininal (anti-NAZI), ect.).

Children at Buchenwald

There were a few children held in Buchenwald. We are not yet sure who the children were. We believe that they were mostly children that accumulated in NAZI camps in Polans after the Death Camps and Auschwitz were shut down. There were very few actual children meaning pre-teens. Unlike the boy here (figure 1), most of the minors found at Bucensald were teenagers. Teenagers that could be employed for light work. And they were old enough to survive the death marches organized by the SS from Poland to camps in the Reich. Most but not all were Polish, One was 15-year old Elie Wiesel. The clandestine underground resistance organization, in which Communists played an important role, attempted to save the small number of youths. m. They were concentrated in Block 66, a part of the Camp somewhat isolated and not as subject to attention from the guards as other area. Rabbi Lau had the children replace the patches identifying them as Jews. The American found about 1,000 Jewish children when they enteed Buchenwald. survivors found by American troops when they liberated Buchenwald. In addition to Polish children, they were survivors from Hungary, Slovenia, and Ruthenia (eastern Czechoslovakia). Many of the children were teenagers meaning that they probably have been given work assignments. The Americns were unsure what to do with the children, American Army chaplains, Rabbi Herschel Schacter and Rabbi Robert Marcus, contacted the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OES). This was the Jewish children's relief organization in Geneva, switzerland. The OSE found placement for the children in France (427), Switzerland (280), and Britain (250). [Hemmendinger and Krell] OSE representatives arrived in Buchenwald and with Rabbi Marcus escorted a transport to France (June 2). Rabbi Schacter went with a second transport to Switzerland. There was aroblem finding decent clothing for the children, mny of whom were in rags or camp uniforms. The OSE staff found some Hitler Youth uniforms. There was, as a result, a problem when the trasport reached France. Some people when they saw them thought that they were Hitler Youth boys. To avoid this 'KZ Buchenwald orphans' was painted on the rail cars. The children themselves chalked their own messages, like 'Hiltler Kaput'.

Clothing at Buchenwald

Prisoners when they arived at Buchenwld and the other concetratin camps in the Reicvh had to turn ovr their civilian clothes and were issued striped unifiorms with badges that identified what clss of prisoners they were. There were soe exceptions. Some individuals were held in the camps under specual conditions. They were high value prisoners of various categories. Jews from neutral counties (such as Argentina and Turkey) were held separate from the main camp for foreign policy reasons. The Germans were willing to turn some of these individuals over. There wre a number of political officials and royals held under special circumstances. Here we note civilian clothes with the KL Buchenwald badges with and without the category symbols. We are not sure if the individuals were in special caegories or more likely represent the deteriorting conditions in the final months of the War. It may also mean that the priosoners raided the camp wearhouses to find something other than their camp uniform.

Boy's Clothes

When I first saw this image I immediately notice hiowwell dressed the boy was. This was almost inconceivably for aewish boy in NAZI hands in 1945. It finally dawned on me that the phoograph was taken after liberation. The boy has ikely been given clohes from a camp warehouse. We do not know how he was dressed before liberation. The clothes do not fit well, but they are good quality and not worn. A reader writes, "Interesting picture. His shoes look brand knew as does his clothes." The shoes are particularly interesting. There were areas of the Reich where going barefoot was common like East Prussi and Ost March (Austria). This was largely a function of poverty. And thus it isintesting to see aJewish boy at a cincentration camp in anew or at least largely unworn pair of shoes. After the War in the wreckage of a devestated Germany, barefoot children were very common. Leather was a critical war material and thu at the end of the War, shoes were very difficult to obtain and many German families coud no longer aford themm even if avaiable. Because there Buchenwald wa an adult labor camp, unlike the death camps there would have been few children's shoes in the warehouses. One of the auful images of the Holocaust are the warehouses with imense piles of children shoes encountered by te Red Army when they reched Majdanek. The battle hardened soldiers knew immeduately what thise piles meant.

Created: 9:14 PM 2/19/2013
Last updated: 9:14 PM 2/19/2013