Piston head ashtray made for concentration camp commander found by US military aid worker

Milton Shurr was born on January 28, 1911, in Rochester, NY, to Mr and Mrs. Harry Shurr. On June 3, 1941, he married Muriel Friedman, from New York City. That year, motivated by news about the persecution of Jews in Europe, including news from correspondents about the camps, Milton joined the field staff of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Fund. He moved from Minneapolis, MN, to Oklahoma City, OK, to head the Fund. He transitioned from being a program organizer in public health to arranging regional conferences to fundraise and to inform US citizens of what was happening abroad. The United States entered World War II on December 8, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Milton was drafted into the US Army and enrolled in Officer's Candidate School. Corporal Shurr was then sent to military government school to be trained to rebuild postwar Germany. First Lieutenant Shurr and the rest of his class were deployed to Great Britain in February 1944. They assisted in the preparations for Operation Overlord, set for June 6, 1944. He was recruited from the Quartermasters Corp by the Army's Department of Civilian Affairs. Slated to deploy one week after D-Day, their departure was delayed to send more fighting troops. They then landed on Omaha Beach near Isigny. Milton was stationed with the 1st Army. He was assigned to collect medical or other supplies dropped on the beach and then throughout France. In October 1944, Milton was placed with the 1st Army Displaced Persons Team in Vervier, Belgium, and was in Malmady during the Battle of the Bulge. He continued to travel widely with a driver searching for supplies. They drove through combat territory and were often bombed. Around January 1945, Milton fell ill with hepatitis and was sent to England to recover. He returned to his unit in Germany the day after Patton's 3rd Army liberated Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945. Buchenwald was then transferred to the command of the 1st Army, which had the task of creating a stable, orderly environment out of the chaotic conditions found at the camp. Camp conditions were in turmoil; soldiers were looting and corpses were piled everywhere. Milton was faced with the enormous task of caring for the approximately 15,000 surviving prisoners, all men and boys, who were dying at a rate of 300 persons a day. Milton met daily with about fifteen capos who were his eyes and ears in the camp and his main source of information about what the former prisoners needed. He was in charge of supplies and worked with a team of three-four officers, six enlisted men, four-five liaison foreign officers, two Russian women who were the cooks, and an assortment of local assistants and mechanics. He worked 16 hour days trying to find enough food to keep the inmates alive. They scoured the surrounding country for supplies and obtained most of their food supplies by confiscating them from German civilians. Cigarettes were used as currency. The Army had obtained nearly a ton of Turkish cigarettes from German supplies. He paid inmates in cigarettes to load and unload trucks. About forty Polish prisoners were recruited to find him transport. They stole two diesel trucks from German locals, and painted them olive drab, with false ordnance numbers. Milton also assisted with the repatriation efforts. Western Europeans were repatriated first. Eastern Europeans were given the choice of returning home or moving to the West. Milton was a liaison with the Red Cross and the Joint Distribution Committee, who organized the repatriation and resettlement of the survivors. There were about 700-1000 boys in the camp and Milton worked with both groups to get them individualized attention. Most were resettled in Palestine. As prisoners left, they were replaced by new ones who wanted to move West. The camp gradually transformed into a displaced persons camp. Horrified by the lack of the value of life in the camp, Milton tried to preserve and collect evidence of the crimes committed there for military investigators. Milton remained at Buchenwald until July 1, 1945, when the camp was transferred to the Soviets, who turned it back into a prison camp. Milton was reclassified as a health welfare officer, part of the military occupation government. He was stationed in Bavaria, where he worked to reopen schools, hospitals, banks, and other social services. In 1949, Milton declined a permanent position with the military in Bavaria as he wished to return to his wife. After demobilization in New Jersey, Milton and his family relocated to Chicago where he worked in health planning. Milton was unable to speak of Buchenwald for many years. Supported by his wife Muriel’s belief that he had a responsibility to share what he had witnessed, after forty years, Milton began to share his experiences. Milton, age 98, died in 2009. His wife Muriel died a month later.

Hermann Franz Josef Pister was born on February 21, 1885, in Luebeck, Germany. His father was a financial secretary. In July 1914, World War I began. Two years later, Pister enlisted in the German Imperial Navy and served until the war ended in Germany’s defeat in November 1918. After his discharge, Pister began an apprenticeship as an auto mechanic. Later, he became a car salesman and manager. He married and the couple had three children. In 1931, Pister joined the Nazi party, member number 918391, and the SS, member number 29892. He was assigned to work part time in the SS Motor Echelon. In 1933, he advanced to a high ranking position in SS Motor Regiment Nineteen. In spring 1936, he became a full-time member of the SS and was moved to a high level position in SS Motor Regiment One. In 1937, he was transferred to Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler’s motor pool. In 1939, Pister was promoted to commander in charge of the supervision and management of educational camps in the west. On October 9, Sturmbannfuhrer Pister became the commandant of Hinzert Concentration Camp / SS Special Camp, where, in September 1941, Dr. Wolter, the camp doctor, killed 70 Soviet prisoners of war with prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide). In December, Pister was promoted to Obersturmbannfuhrer and left Hinzert. On January 21, 1942, Pister replaced Karl Otto Koch as the commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp. He turned Buchenwald into a model camp in the eyes of the SS, and made already horrible conditions at the camp even worse for the prisoners. During his tenure, he sanctioned the use of prisoners for experimental medical procedures and allowed an estimated 8,000 Soviet prisoners of war to be executed in an arena at the camp. In early April 1945, Allied forces advanced on the region and the SS feared Buchenwald would be captured and the prisoners liberated. On April 6 and 7, Pister ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of prisoners and sent them on forced marches to Theresienstadt, Flossenbürg, and Dachau concentration camps. Pister fled shortly after ordering the evacuation. On April 11, Buchenwald was liberated by American soldiers. On May 7, Germany surrendered. In June, Oberfuhrer Pister was arrested after he was found among a group of German prisoners of war being held at an Allied detention camp near Munich, Germany. On April 11, 1947, Hermann Pister and thirty other accused war criminals from Buchenwald were put on trial before an American Military Tribunal. He was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. Hermann Pister, age 63, died of a heart attack on September 28, 1948, in his cell at Landsberg prison before his sentence could be carried out.

The piston ashtray was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by Milton Shurr.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Milton L. Shurr

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.