Martin M. West letter
Extent and Medium
folder
1
Creator(s)
- Martin M. West
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Claude West
Handbill obtained by Sergeant Martin West in Austria or Germany in Spring of 1945. Mailed by Martin West to his wife and son, Claude West, in June of 1945. Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1994 by Claude West.
Scope and Content
Contains a letter written by Sergeant Martin M. West of the U.S. Army's 4th Armored Division, to his family in the United States, dated June 11, 1945. The letter is written on the back of a handbill depicting corpses stacked at the Mauthausen concentration camp. Transcription letter: verso: black ink; "Helen return this back please./I want you to see it./June-11.-45/Dearest one an son/Hi kid will try an write you a few lines to night an let you know I am ok I know you waunt think mutch of the paper I am writing on But this is what I have seen that why I am writing on it I want to see for my self an will [never] will for get what I seen or waunt for give the ones that did it I am sinding this so you waunt field sorry for these people I think we are to good to them as it is what do you think this is people they kill to keep us from noing what they did to them they dont look like they ever had any thing to eat for mounths I dont waunt my boy to go through what I have bin in an he waunt if I can do any good over here this is a real pi pictur of one of the places an I dont know how many places that was like this Well kid I know you waunt to know how long I will be here I dont know yet But I am in hope to know in about three week I got 79 points an it take 85 to get out so that all I can let you know now oh yes I got five Battle stars if they all come through Well kid I am about to run out of the paper so I will close hoping to get a [illegible] letter from you an C.M. soon/With all my love./Dad.
Corporate Bodies
- United States. Army
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation.
Genre
- Document
- Letters.