WWII Veterans Recall Dachau's Liberation at NYS Military Museum

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Survivors of the Dachau Concentration Camp celebrate their liberation, April 29, 1945. Courtesy photo.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (04/28/2011)(readMedia)-- World War II veterans of the Army's 42nd Infantry "Rainbow" Division share their memories of the notorious Concentration Camp Dachau on the 66th anniversary of the camp's liberation by division Soldiers on April 29, 1945.

The commemoration precedes this weekend's global Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoah, on Sunday, May 1.

The three Rainbow Division veterans will view the temporary exhibit at the New York State Military History Museum, "Names Instead of Numbers," which highlights the lives of Dachau prisoners under the Nazi regime from 1933-1945.

WHAT: Commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp

WHO: WWII veterans Anthony Harden, Richard Marowitz and George Williams meet with museum director Michael Aikey

WHEN: Friday, April 29, 2011 at 2 p.m.

WHERE: New York State Military History Museum and Veterans Research Center, 61 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 12866

Media Opportunity:

Interviews with WWII veterans from the liberation of the Concentration Camp Dachau, visual imagery of the veterans touring the traveling exhibit, "Names Instead of Numbers" and meeting their present-day counterparts of the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard.

News media representatives can arrange to speak about the temporary exhibit and the Military Museum with the New York National Guard's Director of Military History, Mr. Michael Aikey at (518) 581-5101.

For interest in the New York Army National Guard's role in the liberation of Dachau and the effort to bring the "Names Instead of Numbers" exhibit to the United States this spring, contact Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, 42nd Infantry Division Public Affairs Officer at (518) 786-6150 or 727-7314.

Background

WWII veterans Sgt. Anthony Harden, Pfc. George Williams and Pfc. Richard Marowitz

Anthony Harden of Albany, George Williams of Niskayuna and Richard Marowitz of Albany will join with modern day representatives of the 42nd Infantry, now a combat division of the New York Army National Guard based in Troy, N.Y.

Marowitz served as a scout with the 222nd Infantry Regimental headquarters, leading the division to Dachau on the day of its liberation.

Harden served as a machine gun squad leader with the division's 232nd Infantry Regiment.

Williams served in WWII with the division's 242nd Infantry Regiment as a mortarman through the spring of 1945. He toured the concentration camp during occupation duties with the division after the war ended.

"Names Instead of Numbers" traveling exhibit

The traveling exhibit, "Names Instead of Numbers" displays a selection of biographies from the Dachau Remembrance Book Project. The exhibit features photographs from the lives of former prisoners of Dachau concentration camp. It opened in Saratoga on April 13.

The Remembrance Book project was founded in 1999 with the help of a number of local organizations, and has collated over 130 biographies in its short history, all of which have been written by volunteers.

More information about the exhibit can be found at www.gedaechtnisbuch.de/namen-statt-nummern/english/index-engl.html.

The exhibit will travel to the Brookdale Community College Center for World War II Studies and Conflict Resolution in northern New Jersey next week for display from May 8-22. The Virginia Holocaust Museum will then display the exhibit in June. The exhibit is then expected to travel to Oklahoma City, Okla. during the annual reunion of the 42nd Infantry Division Veterans Memorial Foundation.

New York State Military History Museum and Veterans Research Center

The New York State Military Museum houses over 10,000 artifacts dating from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that relate to New York State's military forces, the state's military history and the contributions of New York's veterans. The artifacts include uniforms, weapons, artillery pieces, and art. A significant portion of the museum's collection is from the Civil War.

The library and archive holdings in the Veterans Research Center include a 2000 volume library of military and New York State history, over 6,000 photographs, unit history files, broadsides, scrapbooks, letters and maps.

The museum, at 61 Lake Avenue in Saratoga Springs, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., except Sundays when the museum opens at noon.