Unused Nazi banner with a swastika found by a US soldier

Identifier
irn522575
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2005.40.1
Dates
1 Jan 1945 - 31 Dec 1945
Level of Description
Item
Source
EHRI Partner

Web Source

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn522575

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 78.500 inches (199.39 cm) | Width: 38.625 inches (98.108 cm)

Creator(s)

  • Earl E. Kinne (Subject)

Biographical History

Earl Kinne was born January 6th, 1920, in Pomona California. He grew up in southern California and joined the US Army in 1942. He served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division in Germany, Sicily, and Italy. While in Germany in 1945, Kinne and a fellow soldier were ordered to go to Ludwigslust, a small town in Germany, to take the townspeople to Wöbbelin, a nearby sub-camp of Neuengamme concentration camp, to witness the unburied bodies and other evidence of the atrocities that had occurred there. The United States Army forced the townspeople to bury the dead. Kinne passed away at age 90, July 19th, 2010.

Archival History

The banner was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Earl Kinne.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Earl E. Kinne

Scope and Content

Unused Nazi banner found by an American soldier, Earl Kinne, in a boxcar near Ludwigslust, Germany, in 1945. Kinne and a fellow soldier were ordered to go to Ludwigslust, a small town in Germany, to take the townspeople to Wöbbelin, a nearby sub-camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp, to witness the unburied bodies and other evidence of the atrocities that had been committed there by the Nazi government. The United States Army forced the townspeople to bury the dead. Earl found several newly manufactured Nazi flags, rolled in bundles, in a boxcar near the camp. The flags had never been used. Earl served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne in Germany, Sicily, and Italy.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Rectangular, red, cloth banner with a central white circle with a printed black swastika sewn onto the center. The short ends are hemmed and have a bronze metal grommet in each corner.

Corporate Bodies

  • Nazi Party
  • United States. Army. Airborne Division, 82nd

Subjects

  • Soldiers--United States.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Western Front.

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.