{"id":2729,"date":"2015-10-29T08:43:09","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T12:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=2729"},"modified":"2024-06-28T15:38:56","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:38:56","slug":"holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kyra<\/a>
Kyra Schuster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kyra Schuster, a curator at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag<\/a>. It was given to the WWII soldier 70 years ago by survivors of Langenstein, a Nazi concentration camp. Schuster agreed to answer some questions about the handmade banner.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How did you find out about the flag, and what was your initial reaction to its existence?<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/a>
Inside the Holocaust Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I received a phone call from one of Donald Hall\u2019s daughters. I wasn\u2019t surprised to hear that she was calling about a flag that her father brought home from WWII, as we receive a large number calls about Nazi flags brought home as war souvenirs by GIs.\u00a0What did surprise me was that it was an American flag and the story behind it. We have heard of similar flags, which were made by prisoners for the liberators, but we didn\u2019t have any in our collection.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The donated flag from WWII. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s the story of the making of the flag?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0Unfortunately, we don\u2019t know who made the flag. I presume it was made closer to the time Langenstein was liberated [in 1945]. It appears to have been painted (rather than sewn). I\u2019m hoping our textile conservator will be able to provide some additional information about the materials.<\/p>\n

\"Sgt.<\/a>
Sgt. Hall’s photo at the ceremony. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Why was it given to Sgt. Hall and not someone else?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0From what the family told me, Hall may not have been the first GI in the unit to receive the flag. It\u2019s possible it was passed on to him by another member of his unit. He didn\u2019t discuss the finer details of his experiences during the liberation of Langenstein with his family. We see this quite often with survivors and veterans who find it difficult to discuss what they experienced.<\/p>\n

\"Medical<\/a>
Medical personnel care for a Langenstein survivor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Will the flag be displayed publicly?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0There are no [current] plans to display the flag. It will be cataloged. Once that is completed, the record will be accessible on the Museum\u2019s online catalog<\/a>. At some point, [it could be] placed in our permanent exhibition. Hopefully, someone will hear the story of Donald Hall\u2019s flag and help fill in the gaps \u2013 whether that be a survivor or relative of a survivor who helped make the flag, or a fellow member of the 83rd Infantry Division.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What other WWII-era flags does the museum hold?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> We have a number of different types of Nazi flags, which GIs brought home as war souvenirs. Some are signed by the liberating units, and their sizes range from huge banners which hung on the sides of buildings to small flags attached to automobiles. We also have flags from other countries and flags representing each of the U.S. Army liberating units. Some of the more unique ones include Boy Scout troop flags from Jewish refugees in Shanghai, China; flags from the Cyprus detention camps; and a handmade Israeli flag created by a Polish Jewish girl in a displaced persons camp in Austria to celebrate Israeli statehood.<\/p>\n

(Ms. Schuster added that \u201cwe are always looking to add to our holdings, so if someone [has] a flag or other items they would like to offer to the Museum, they can contact us through our webpage: http:\/\/www.ushmm.org\/research\/research-in-collections<\/a>.\u201d To view a C-SPAN broadcast about the flag, go to http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?327538-1\/discussion-langenstein-concentration-camp-83rd-infantry<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyra Schuster, a curator at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag. It was given to the WWII soldier 70 years ago by survivors of Langenstein, a Nazi concentration camp. Schuster agreed to answer some… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,112],"class_list":["post-2729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-american-flag","tag-world-war-ii"],"yoast_head":"\nHolocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Curator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Curator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-29T12:43:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-28T19:38:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Breig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Breig\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/\",\"name\":\"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-29T12:43:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-28T19:38:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a\"},\"description\":\"Curator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Sgt. Hall's photo at the ceremony. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a\",\"name\":\"James Breig\",\"description\":\"James Breig is a veteran author who specializes in history. His most recent book is \u201cStar-Spangled Baseball: True Tales of Flags and Fields\u201d about the links between the sport and flags. He is also the author of a nonfiction book about WWII, \\\"Searching for Sgt. Bailey: Saluting an Ordinary Soldier of World War II\\\" and co-author of \\\"The Mystery of the Multiple Mothers,\\\" a novel. All three are available at www.amazon.com. His articles have appeared in newspapers and national magazines, including the Colonial Williamsburg Journal (search for them at www.history.org\/journal) and History Magazine. He has won many national awards for his opinion writing, media columns and feature articles.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/author\/james\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag","description":"Curator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag","og_description":"Curator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/","og_site_name":"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","article_published_time":"2015-10-29T12:43:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-28T19:38:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James Breig","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Breig","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/","name":"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-29T12:43:09+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-28T19:38:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a"},"description":"Curator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the family of Sgt. Donald Hall donated an American flag.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Sgt.-Halls-photo-at-the-ceremony.-U.S.-Holocaust-Memorial-Museum.jpg","width":600,"height":400,"caption":"Sgt. Hall's photo at the ceremony. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/holocaust-survivors-thanked-gi-american-flag\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Holocaust survivors thanked GI with American flag"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/","name":"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a","name":"James Breig","description":"James Breig is a veteran author who specializes in history. His most recent book is \u201cStar-Spangled Baseball: True Tales of Flags and Fields\u201d about the links between the sport and flags. He is also the author of a nonfiction book about WWII, \"Searching for Sgt. Bailey: Saluting an Ordinary Soldier of World War II\" and co-author of \"The Mystery of the Multiple Mothers,\" a novel. All three are available at www.amazon.com. His articles have appeared in newspapers and national magazines, including the Colonial Williamsburg Journal (search for them at www.history.org\/journal) and History Magazine. He has won many national awards for his opinion writing, media columns and feature articles.","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/author\/james\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2729"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5380,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions\/5380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}