Gallery
Detail of the original photograph stapled into the camp report. It appears on page 1, with two additional photographs on page 2.In 2011, we came across and purchased a typed manuscript report on the Junkers Displaced Persons (DP) Camp in Germany—ours appears to be a copy of the original completed in April, 1947. The title of the report and the sign at the gate to the camp:
JUNKER'S DP CAMP
— UNRRA —
AREA TEAM 1024
ASSEMBLY CENTER 525
don't mention the location, Bettenhausen, Kassel. Apparently, this was one of several DP camps in the Kassel area, making references to "Kassel" DP Camp problematic. Since camps were organized largely by ethnic groups to provide a sense of community and facilitate camp operations, Baltic peoples speaking of "Kassel" likely refer to Bettenhausen, Jews to Hasenecke, and Russians to Moenchehof.
Our report is a carbon copy. However, a number of the included exhibits, such as newsletters and photographs, are originals. This report is a copy of one held in the United Nations Archives in their files "Monographs - DP-US 20 - Displaced Persons - United States Zone (Germany) - Histories of Individual Camps - History Report No. 30", reference code S-1021-0081-05, which contain the following DP camp reports:
- Ukrainian Camp in Ellwangen by W. V. Buckhantz;
- Baltin Camp in Bettenhausen, Kassel by D. F. McGonigal;
- Polish Camp in Wildflecken by K. Hulme;
- Jewish Community in Regensbur by A. V. Taraska;
- Yugo-Slav Camp in Bad Adiberg by H. Rosenblatt;
- Jewish Camp in Leiphein Airport by E. Robertson;
- History of Funk Kaserne by Earl Blake Cox; and
- History of Area Team No. 1044, Bayreuth by C. E. Wheeler.
Our thanks to the United Nations Archives (UNA) for subsequently (2018) providing us with a copy of the report including page 3, which was missing in ours. We've now added that. It also appears the report was typed at least twice, as the continuation indicators (the next word appearing atop the next page) at the bottom of the UNA have a leading slash ("/"), while ours do not. There are also other artefacts indicating ours is not a direct carbon copy of the report filed at the UNA.
Except for the photographs, the inserts and attachments are of poor quality. We will transcribe these as we can.
Our republication includes the main body of the report and stays true to the look, feel, and pagination of the original for scholarship purposes.
