AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MONASTERY IN THE LATE 1930IES AND 1940IES As the aerial photographs show, the monastery is surrounded by farm land and equipped with agricultural facilities. This was an asset for the installation of the military hospital in 1941 and later of the Jewish hospital as the huge farm could help to nourish the patients. Another asset for the installation of the military hospital was the fact that the whole compound is surrounded by walls.
SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERY ON APRIL 17, 1941
A photograph taken from a hidden spot shows how the monks are brought away in busses after the Gestapo had taken over the monastery compound on April 17, 1941. Around 60 monks were „obliged“ to continue their work on the farm and in the workshops which provided for the basic needs of the military hospital.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 1941-1945 WHEN THE MONASTERY SERVED AS MILITARY HOSPITAL
Staff of the military hospital. The nuns of the surrounding monasteries were obliged to serve as nurses for the hospital.
Room in the Retreat House transformed as dormitory for wounded soldiers
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE WELFENKASERNE LANDSBERG BY COURTESY OF ANNE RUECKER
Under the code name „Ringeltaube“ a huge underground facility close to Landsberg am Lech was constructed starting from June 1944 where after completion military planes should be built. For the construction works about 23.000 prisoners, especially from Eastern Europe, were gradually brought to smaller concentration camps around Landsberg and Kaufering (Lager I-XI). According to a recent counting, 6334 of these forced workers (male and female) died during the construction which continued until the last days of the war. The first patients of the St. Ottilien Hospital came from these concentration camps. Today the underground facility is part of a Military Compound of the German Army („Welfenkaserne“) which honors the victims in a permanent exhibition.
Here is a photo of the bunker during construction process shortly before the end of the war.
Jacket worn in the camp by Uri Chanoch and donated to the museum before his recent death.
The bunker, as far as it was built (about 220 meters from 400)
Model of the bunker design
Photos of about 350 former prisoners in Kaufering and Landsberg. The frames adorned with a yellow carnation indicate a person who did not survive the camp.
The prisoner who wore this jacket, Uri Chanoch, gave it to the Place of Memory a few years ago.
These were the symbols used for the different type of prisoners in the concentration camps. Poltical, emigrants, „Bible researchers“, homosexuals, asocial, Jews, Poles, and so on.
The original bunker wall is on the right. The one on the left was built after the war when the bunker found other uses than the originally intended one. The bunker is autark, providing its own electricity so the computers used for repair of jets keep an even stream of energy flow for a week of tests. There is a well under the bunker for water needs.
„Touch me!“ Symbolic hands of victims who were buried in the cement of the walls.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM LAGER VII BY COURTESY OF ANNE RUECKER
Among the originally eleven subcamps of Dachau which were spread around Landsberg/Kaufering only Lager VII is still in part preserved. See European Holocaust Memorial in Landsberg.
TOMBS FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE TRAIN BOMBING AND SS EXECUTIONS ON APRIL 28, 1945
The three mass graves for about 130-140 victims lie close to the railway line from Kaufering to Munich, about 2 kilometers from the village of Schwabhausen. Dr. Zalman Grinberg, as accompanying doctor, organized the transport of the wounded survivors to the nearby German military hospital of St. Ottilien which became the start for the later DP Hospital.
ARRIVAL OF AMERICAN TROOPS AT ST. OTTILIEN ON APRIL 30, 1945
National Archives Washington
DRAWINGS OF THE HOSPITAL TREATMENT BY NURSE ERIKA GRUBE
Nurse Erika Grube served in the rehabilitation center of the UNRRA hospital. She produced eight drawings of her therapeutic experiences which today are preserved in the Yad Vashem Center. Description in English: Eight drawings and in German: Acht Grafiken.
VIEW OF ST. OTTILIEN IN 1945
The image shows the view from the former main entrance road (coming from Eresing resp. Türkenfeld) to the monastery. On the monastery roof, the flag of the Red Cross was already installed by the former German military Hospital as protection against Allied air raids. See the reference in US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
DP police in front of the administration center (former monastery restaurant)
In front of the administration center
At the train station
In front of the administration center
Checkpoint at the train station St. Ottilien
Southern entrance gate
Checkpoint at the train station St. Ottilien
At the train station
At the entrance to the Administration Center
Saren Gerberbaum at the entrance to the Administration Center
Abram Savicky at the entrance to the Administration Center
Check-point of the DP police
Checkpoint of the DP police at the Northern exit of the monastery (direction Geltendorf). Saren Gerberbaum phoning.
View on St. Ottilien from the train station of Geltendorf
DP Police on motorcycle between Administration Center and Monastery
DP Policeman at the Northern end of the monastery walls
DP Police on motorcycle between Administration Center and Monastery
UNRRA Delivery truck
Jeep in front of the Retreat House
Jeep in front of the Retreat House
At the checkpoint at the North-Eastern exit of St. Ottilien, looking in Northern direction.
Checkpoint at the North-Eastern exit of the monastery compound. In the background the delivery station and to the right the laundry. Abram Savicky at the left.
Abram Savicky and Saren Gerberbaum sitting in front of the train station of St. Ottilien
FIRST CONGRESS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE AT THE TOWN HALL OF MUNICH (January 27, 1946)
Photo 1: David Ben-Gurion (second from the right) seated at the speakers‘ table. Dr. Zalman Grinberg is speaking as chairman of the Executive Council of Holocaust Survivors. The Hebrew banner shows a line from a poem by David Shimonovitz: „As long as a Jewish heart beats somewhere in the world, there will be a land of Israel“. Copyright by Ghetto Fighters House Museum, Catalogue No. 56293.
Photo 2: David Ben-Gurion standing at the speakers‘ table. The participants sing the Zionist anthem „Hatikva.“ Dr. Zalman Grinberg stands to the left of Ben-Gurion. Copyright by Ghetto Fighters House Museum, Catalogue No. 56292.
Visit of David Ben-Gurion in Munich on January 25-27, 1946. Dr. Grinberg is speaking.
Visit of David Ben-Gurion in Munich on January 25-27, 1946, for the Third Conference of Liberated Jews
VISITING CARD OF DR. GRINBERG
The card was found in the residues of Dr. Hanns Kaiser (1921–2012) who worked in the Hospital under Dr. Grinberg (photograph provided by courtesy of Peter Kaiser)
Klausner with survivors including Yankel Levin (far right). Date: Unknown (1945-1948). Photographer: Abe Plotkin. Location: Germany
Chaplain Klausner managing his „package“ program where he solicited packages from US families to support survivors. Date: Unknown (1945-1948). Photographer: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin. Location: Germany
Klausner speaking at rally against the military. Date: Unknown (1945-1946). Photographer: Unknown. Location: Feldafing, Germany
Chaplain Klausner managing his „package“ program where he solicited packages from US families to support survivors. Date: Unknown (1945-1948). Photographer: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin. Location: Germany
Portrait of Abraham Klausner. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Unknown. Location: Unknown
Chaplain Klausner with survivors. Date: 1945. Photographer: Unknown. Location: DP Camp Feldafing. In the background the building „Sturmblockhaus Vc“
Major Irving Heymont converses with David Ben-Gurion during his visit to the Landsberg displaced persons camp. Also pictured is U.S. Army chaplain, Rabbi Abraham Klausner (on the left ) and Abraham Glassgold, UNRRA camp director (at the far right). Date: Ben-Gurion visited DP camps in October of 45 and again in January and October of 46. Photographer: Unknown. Location: Landsberg DP Camp, Germany
Leo Schwarz, JDC director for Germany, addresses a conference of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone of Germany. Seated next to the speaker is U.S. army chaplain Abraham Klausner. Date: 1945. Locale: Munich, [Bavaria] Germany. Photographer: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
A cantor sings at a public ceremony sponsored by the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone of Germany. Among those pictured is U.S. Army chaplain Abraham Klausner (second from the left) and Philipp Auerbach (second from the right). Date: 1945. Locale: Munich, [Bavaria] Germany. Photographer: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
Leon Retter addresses a conference sponsored by the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. Zone of Germany. Seated next to him is U.S. Army chaplain Abraham Klausner. Date: 1945. Locale: Munich, [Bavaria] Germany. Photographer: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
American Jewish army chaplains attend a meeting called by Judge Louis Levinthal, Advisor on Jewish Affairs to the U.S. Army in Germany. Among those pictured are Judge Louis Levinthal (with bow tie); Mayer Abramowitz (second from the right, in front of the door); Abraham Klausner (far right); and Oscar Lifschutz (front left in the arm chair). Date: Nov 1945. Locale: Frankfurt-am-Main, [Hesse-Nassau; Hesse] Germany. Photographer: Unknown
U.S. army chaplain Rabbi Abraham Klausner speaks at the first post-war Zionist conference in Munich. Date: 1945. Locale: Munich, [Bavaria] Germany. Photographer: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
Chaplain Abraham Klausner in military dining room. Date: Unknown (1945-1948). Photographer: Unknown. Location: Unknown
VIEWS OF THE MONASTERY-HOSPITAL WITH THE SIGN OF THE RED CROSS ON THE ROOFS AND WALLS
PLACARD BY THE HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION FROM 1946
„WARNING to the patients and the employees of the hospital. It is strictly forbidden to take fruits, berries, and flowers from the gardens in the area of the Hospital of St. Ottilien. Whoever offends this order, has to face instant dismissal from the hospital. Administration of the D.P. Hospital St. Ottilien.“ (Handwritten note on the placard: July 1, 1946)
Holocaust survivors recuperating in a hospital
in the Dp Camp in St. Ottilien, Germany, 1946
Photo: Zvi Kadushin
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center Beit Hatfutsot, Zvi Kadushin Collection)
Circumcision ceremony at St.Ottilien hospital, Germany, 18.06.1946
Photo: Zvi Kadushin
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot, Zvi Kadushin Collection)
Circumcision ceremony at St.Ottilien hospital, Germany, 18.06.1946
Photo: Zvi Kadushin
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot, Zvi Kadushin Collection)
Jeshiva at St. Ottilien, Germany with Rabbi Samuel Snieg teaching, 1945-1947
Photo: Zvi Kadushin (The Oster Visual Documentation Center Beit Hatfutsot, Zvi Kadushin Collection)
Liberated Jews in the hospital of St. Ottilien, Germany, after the war.
Photo: Zvi Kadushin
(Beth Hatefutsoth Photo Archive, Zvi Kadushin Collection)
Entrance to the Jewish school in St. Ottilien (The Oster Visual Documentation Center Beit Hatfutsot, Zvi Kadushin Collection)
Classroom at the children’s DP camp at St. Ottilien,
Germany, 1946. Photo: Zvi Kadushin (The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot, Zvi Kadushin collection)
DAILY LIFE IN THE OTTILIEN HOSPITAL (from the „Landsberger Lager-Cajtung, June 14 and 21, 1946)
Soccer game.
Children at St. Ottilien.
Soccer game.
Patients sitting in front of the school.
Operation in the op-room.
Consultation of doctors: Dr. Zalman Berman (left) and Dr. Chaim Ipp (right) with nurses in front of the maternity ward.
MEMBERS OF A „CHILDREN’S KIBBUTZ“ OF THE DROR YOUTH MOVEMENT IN FRONT OF THE ST. OTTILIEN CHAPEL (July 1946)
The banner in the foreground reads, in Hebrew: „[the] Future of our people.“ The kibbutz was named „Atid“ [Hebrew: future]. Counselor Motek Goldhecht is standing on the left. Copyright by Ghetto Fighters House Museum, Catalogue No. 37796.
A Childrens‘ Kibbutz in St. Ottilien in July 1946
CERTIFICATE FOR BEN LESSER FROM SEPTEMBER 24, 1946
Certificate from Principal Welfare Officer Katan for Ben Lesser that he has stayed in the hospital from July 12th through to September 24th, 1946.
TALMUD OF 1946
Before printing a complete version of the Talmud from 1948 to 1950 in 19 volumes in Heidelberg, Rabbi Samuel Abba Snieg und Rabbi Samuel Jakob Rose printed two volumes at the monastery press of St. Ottilien (run at this time by Herder editions). The Talmud was used for study purposes by the Ottilien Yeshiva of Rabbi Snieg. The third photograph shows Rabbi Rose proof reading the printing plates of the Talmud (Source: US-National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain)
Ann Gure stands behind her brother Steve in the St. Ottilien DP camp.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum #322.4534
Jewish DPs, who survived both the Kovno ghetto and Dachau concentration camp, pose together at the St. Ottilien Hospital displaced persons camp. On the left is Max Lurie who belonged to the DP Police of St. Ottilien.
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1109777
Miriam Elkes poses with her brother Hans Malbin and her daughter Sarah in the Saint Ottilien displaced persons camp.
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1175746
Jewish survivors (largely from the Kovno ghetto) at the St. Ottilien displaced persons hospital camp.
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1151639
Jewish survivors (largely from the Kovno ghetto) at the St. Ottilien displaced persons hospital (violinist Motel Borstein far left, son Eli Borstein back center, Michael Hofmekler front center).
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1151645
