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Ruins of Nurnberg

Ruins of Nurnberg

This is a series of photographs from Nuremberg (Ger. Nürnberg), Germany in summer 1945. The photographer, former IU professor Malcolm Fleming, served in Germany as an Official US Army Photographer from 1945-1949. Fleming used his personal camera to take approximately 500 photos of the war on top of the pictures he took for the military. These images are from that private collection.

Fleming's caption typed and written on reverse side of image reads, in full: "A strictly candid shot, couldn't have been posed better. A caption for it is as superfluous as asking questions of them would have been. See X-7 Nurnberg, Ger - - 9 July 45"

The city of Nuremberg became a major bombing target for the Allied forces in late 1944 during World War II. Adolf Hitler had used the city as a center for Nazi rallies and military production since 1927, and the city also housed a subcamp of Flossenburg concentration camp. For these reasons, the British and American Air Forces organized massive-scale bombings on the city, the worst of which happened in January 1945. About 90% of the old city center was destroyed. Nuremberg had the most rubble-per-resident of any city in Germany at the end of the war.

Fleming tried to capture both the destruction and the humanity of bombed-out Germany. Some photos show miles of desolated buildings. Other pictures show how survivors found ways to live among the ruins. Around 50% of Nuremberg was homeless, and most remaining dwellings were damaged, so people did all their daily tasks out in the street. Fleming especially included children in his photographs. The images here include a girl helping her mother with washing clothes, and a woman observing her baby as it learns to climb the stairs of an air-raid shelter where they currently live. Although Nazi Germany was the United States’ enemy in the war, Fleming chose to show Germans as being like any other sort of person who was affected by the violence of World War II.

Ruins of Nurnberg Activity Guide

Teacher-Made Nuremberg Lesson Plan- 9-12th Grade Media Literacy by Lauren Wagner

Resources

Resource 1

davis.jfif

This is a USO uniform that was worn during the Second World War between 1943 and 1945. The USO (United Service Organizations) is a non-profit corporation founded by Congress to help improve the lives of soldiers serving overseas. The USO was founded during WWII, and it became famous for providing entertainment for soldiers across all fronts of the war. Volunteer performers often chose to give extra shows on top of their basic schedule and could put on events up to six times a day. They performed in fox holes, on warships, and for soldiers put on hospice. Some USO volunteers were captured or killed while travelling with the military. In total, there were over 700 USO units sent around the globe during the war.

Agnes Davis, the owner of this uniform, served in USO units #84 and #253. Davis was a teacher and talented opera singer from Colorado. Davis’ father was a military veteran, so when World War II broke out Davis began performing at events to help fundraise war bonds and other military programs. In 1943 she joined the USO and spent two years working around the globe. For the safety of the troops, many of her travels weren’t formally recorded, but her records do show that she spent time in Australia and on Green Island, in the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific. After her war service, Davis became a professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music from 1950 until her death in 1967.

Resource 2

When American forces took control of Germany at the end of the war, they became responsible for informing the German public about events from the war that the Nazi regime had suppressed. Most importantly, they had to explain the realities of the Holocaust. The German people had received Nazi propaganda about concentration camps which had falsely depicted them as humane, family-focused environments for Jewish communities. In the pamphlet “Ihr Sollt Es Wissen” (Ger. “You Shall Know”), the United States explained the realities of concentration camps, including photographs for reference. Simultaneously, the military and the Red Cross set up displaced persons camps in several German cities to support Polish and Russian families who had been forced into Germany during the war. Many people living in these displaced persons camps would possibly have been sent to concentration camps themselves if the war had continued. Fleming chose to photograph the DP camp’s nursery to highlight the young lives who could now grow up free from this threat.

Fleming's caption typed on reverse side of image reads, in full: "(See master caption) "You Shall Know" sign put up by American authorities to picture and describe concentration camps for the German public. Wetzlar, Ger. -- 15 June 45."

Flemming's caption typed on reverse side of image reads, in full: "The children of Polish DP's who with their parents are now a major problem confronting US Authorities. Now that the Russian DP's have been evacuated from this camp the job is much easier -- Russians were difficult to keep in hand. They were forever getting out and looting German civilian homes. Murders were frequent, even among themselves. But what's to be done with the Poles when only 10% desire to return home? Wetzlar, Ger -- 14 June 45."

Resource 3

The “I want YOU” poster is one of the most famous pieces of propaganda from both world wars. It was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917 to help recruit American soldiers for World War I. It was such a successful campaign that the military brought it back for World War II, where it was printed during all years of the war. Uncle Sam posters contributed to the recruitment of over 10 million men. Since then, Americans have continued to repurpose the image for modern propaganda concerns, including for the COVID-19 pandemic (as shown in picture 2).

Picture 1

Picture 2