Provisional identification card for civilian internee of Mauthausen issued by the US army following the liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. May 22, 1945. English and German.

Bilingual (English and German) identification card issued shortly after the liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp by the American army. The document, filled out in handwriting, was issued to Béla Gelb, a Hungarian Jewish internee. According to the document, Gelb was imprisoned at the camp from April 3 to May 5, 1945. The document bears the hand signatures and inked stamps of the camp's American commander, Col. Richard R. Seibel, and the "Magyar Mauthausen Bizottság” (the Mauthausen Hungarian Committee).
On the back of the card is a typewritten text in Hungarian dated June 2, 1945, along with inked stamps of the Red Cross.

On May 3, 1945, the last members of the German SS fled from the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and just a few days later, the US 11th Armored Division liberated Mauthausen and its numerous subsidiary branch camps. The Americans quickly established a system of food distribution, a hospital, and a center for the treatment of typhus. In general, they worked hard to organize daily affairs in the camp in a manner conducive to a swift rehabilitation of the former inmates. An important element in the American reorganization effort was a system enabling the identification of the former inmates, with the intent of eventually returning them to their countries of origin. With this purpose in mind – regarded as an important part of the official Allied policy with respect to the handling of displaced persons – former inmates were sorted according to their lands of origin, and provisional identity cards like the present document were issued to them.

Paper document, approx. 15X21 cm. Good condition. Card separated into two halves, split along perforation line. Minor stains. Fold lines and creases. Several minor tears to edges.