Bill Webster

Nine photographs were deposited by Bill Webster of Fargo, North Dakota, on 20 November 2008 (Acc. #2010-3012). According to the depositor, the photographs were given to the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in Fargo several years prior. No records exist for that donation. In addition, an autograph book belonging to William L. (Billy) Lindstrom of Sycamore, Illinois, accompanied the photographs. Lindstrom served as an aerial gunner on a B-24 Liberator in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Therefore, it is unlikely that there is a connection between the autograph book and the photographs. The autograph book was de-accessioned in December, 2010, and given to the Joiner History Room in the Sycamore Public Library. Although none of the nine photographs were labeled, they were obviously of a liberated concentration camp. Further research indicated they were from the Buchenwald camp, which was liberated 11 April 1945 by soldiers of Patton’s Third Army. The website of the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota (http://www.chgs.umn.edu/histories/minnesotans/buchenwald/f.html) states that copies of such photographs were distributed to those participating either in liberating or dismantling the camps.