The Clement L. Leithoff Collection (GRAPHIC)
Dublin Core
Title
The Clement L. Leithoff Collection (GRAPHIC)
Subject
A collection of items from Sergeant Clement Leroy Leithoff's service with the 7th Armored Division in Europe. This collection includes captured Nazi artifacts, records of Leithoff's service, contemporary photographs, letters and other items.
SOME PHOTOGRAPHS ARE GRAPHIC
SOME PHOTOGRAPHS ARE GRAPHIC
Description
Clement Leroy Leithoff was born in Valentine, Nebraska on November 2, 1921 and graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego in 1940. In the period before he enlisted in the U.S. Army, he worked on the massive assembly line at Consolidated Aviation, which produced, among other aircraft, the B-24 Liberator. Here Clement worked as a fuselage assembler from May 1940-May 1944.
He enlisted in the Army on May 31, 1944, as his family put it, to avoid being drafted, and would serve as a tank driver, light truck driver and squad leader with the 40th Tank Battalion, 7th Armored Division.
By May 4, 1945 Leithoff's unit had come across the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, recently liberated by a British armored division. The photographs Leithoff returned with show him driving up to the fence, survivors behind barbed wire, mountains of shoes, and pits full of bodies. The notes on the back of the pictures record his thoughts on seeing these hecatombs.
The Nazi artifacts Leithoff brought back, it is speculated, were smuggled in the rubber lifeboat and parachutes for which he obtained a certificate to authenticate his possession. These were certainly not fetishistic items purchased in the dark corners of a gun show, nor even triumphal trophies. These were tokens of solemn remembrance to the horrors Leithoff saw in Europe.
Leithoff's notes, hand written on the back of a small photograph capturing Germans loading piles of corpses onto a truck, say in sobering tone, "It was terrible, I saw it, & take it, I know."
He enlisted in the Army on May 31, 1944, as his family put it, to avoid being drafted, and would serve as a tank driver, light truck driver and squad leader with the 40th Tank Battalion, 7th Armored Division.
By May 4, 1945 Leithoff's unit had come across the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, recently liberated by a British armored division. The photographs Leithoff returned with show him driving up to the fence, survivors behind barbed wire, mountains of shoes, and pits full of bodies. The notes on the back of the pictures record his thoughts on seeing these hecatombs.
The Nazi artifacts Leithoff brought back, it is speculated, were smuggled in the rubber lifeboat and parachutes for which he obtained a certificate to authenticate his possession. These were certainly not fetishistic items purchased in the dark corners of a gun show, nor even triumphal trophies. These were tokens of solemn remembrance to the horrors Leithoff saw in Europe.
Leithoff's notes, hand written on the back of a small photograph capturing Germans loading piles of corpses onto a truck, say in sobering tone, "It was terrible, I saw it, & take it, I know."
Creator
Clement L. Leithoff
Date
1940-1946
Contributor
Alexander Leithoff, Richard Leithoff, Nicholas Leithoff
Rights
Cyrus Leithoff
Format
Various
Language
English
Type
Various
Collection Items
M-70 Tank Sight
The sight resembles a pair of goggles with a telescope affixed over one eye. The scope displays elevation gradients to the viewer.
Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes was a newspaper put out by the US military. The three issues pictured here describe events such as the death of Hitler and Soviet columns capturing Berlin.
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Photograph 1 (GRAPHIC)
The notes on back read : "This is the back of me Clement L. Leithoff the driver of a peep [sic] driving around the camp Belson concentration camp in Germany. May 4, 1945. Near Elbe River. About 12 minutes from Baltic Sea.
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Photograph 2 (GRAPHIC)
The notes on back read: “German’s working barrerieng [sic] the dead by the houndreds [sic] in pits about 6 to 8 ft deep + 50’ to 75’ ft Long + about 50 ft wide. It was terrible I saw it, + take it from me I know. Camp Belson, Germany May 4, 1945”
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Photograph 3 (GRAPHIC)
The notes on back read: “Camp Belson, Ger. May 4, 1945. One of the pitts [sic] or graves.