The 45th Infantry Division
is recognized as a liberating
unit of Dachau by the
United
States
Holocaust Memorial Museum and the
U. S. Army Center of Military History.
PFC Felix A. Cizewski was in the
45th
Signal Company at that time. While none of the reports of the
initial liberation mention the presence of the
45th Signal Company, the
signalmen would
have
been just behind the riflemen and moving forward, arriving shortly
after liberation. The first photos were taken by by
T/4 Arland B.
Musser, 163rd
Signal Photographic Company, Seventh
Army.
Felix would have had the opportunity to visit Dachau. As he was fluent
in Polish, he would have been
able to
converse with inmates.
The 45th Division was
stationed on occupation duty in
Munich area
near Dachau from May until
late July, 1945.
After
VE Day, May 8, 1945: General
Patton became military
governor of Bavaria, which included Dachau and the 45th Division, and
ordered that no charges be brought against the GIs involved in the
execution of guards
Felix never spoke of
Dachau before
his
death in 2004. Dachau meant something to him as he kept a copy of the
45th
Division News with
the report of the liberation and a photo of the
gate
to the SS camp.