William Buckhantz papers

Vladimir (William) Buckhantz (the father of the donor) was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on September 24, 1902. William Buckhantz immigrated to South Africa in 1939 and then came to the United States. He was conscripted into the American Army and sent overseas during the occupation to serve as an UNRRA officer in the Regensburg and Deggendorf displaced persons camps. While working for UNRRA, he reunited with his brother Boris (Benzion, b. 1901), his wife Jenny (nee Faros, b. 1906) and their son Abba (later Allen, b. 1923) who had survived the Kovno ghetto and Dachau concentration camp. After returning to the States in 1949, William Buckhantz married Araxia Margery Gulbenkian who he met while in training at Fort Slocum before leaving for Europe. Besides William only one other sister Rochelle (later Zeidel) entirely escaped the Holocaust. She had immigrated to Palestine before the war. William's mother Cecilia died in the Kovno ghetto. His father Solomon was taken from the synagogue never to be seen again. Another brother Jascha survived in hiding in France. A third brother, Naum (Noah) was killed by Lithuanian fascists shortly after the German invasion in 1941. His younger sister Sonia perished during the Holocaust with her husband and two children after the Germans blew up their bunker. The William Buckhantz collection is an excellent resource for those studying the experiences of UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) personnel working in displaced persons camps. The collection includes extensive photographs depicting life in the Deggendorf and Ellwangen displaced persons camp. It also includes blank UNRRA forms, including blank AEF Displaced Persons forms and identity cards. Buckhantz also received letters written by displaced persons asking for his assistance; a remarkable document written and illustrated by a survivor cartoonist, Georg Feier, gives his identifying information and describing his wartime experiences is included in the collection.