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.
The first photos were taken by by
T/4 Arland B. Musser, 163rd Signal Photographic Company, Seventh Army.
PFC Felix A. Cizewski was in the
45th
Signal
Company at that time. On April 29th, the day of
liberation, the 45th Signal Compnay was moving from Schrobenhausen
about 39 miles (63 kilometers) by road north of Dachau to
Haimhausen, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) by road northeast of
Dachau. On April 30th, the day after liberation, the 45th
Signal Company moved to Feldmoching, Munich, about 7 1/2 milies
(12 kilomters) by road southeast of Dachau.
Felix would have had the
opportunity to visit Dachau.
As he was fluent in Polish,
he would have been able to converse with inmates.1
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.
1 In
Forgotten
Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944
author Richard C. Lukas reports as many as 8,900 Poles among the
liberated survivors of Dachau.
Lukas sites as his source: Jan Domagala,
Ci Ktorzy Przeszli Przeszli
Przez Dachau (Duchowni w Dachau). Warsaw: Pax, 1957.