Memorial service for victims of the Hindenburg disaster, held on May 11, 1937 at Pier 86 in New York City.
Pier 86 was the Hamburg-Amerika Line pier in 1937; today it is the home of the USS Intrepid Museum.
New York City, 1937
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Actually, there’s only one American flag among the coffins. Moritz Feibusch was a German Jew who emigrated to the United States in 1897, and his coffin was included in this ceremony, draped in an American flag. I’m fairly certain that he was buried here in the States.
The other coffin without a German flag, visible about 2/3 of the way down the line, was that of Swedish journalist Birger Brinck, whose coffin was covered with a Swedish flag (with another Swedish flag also displayed among the swastikas hanging above the row of coffins.)
Not all of the Hindenburg fatalities were put on display at the Pier 86 ceremony either, by the way. For instance, Burtis Dolan’s body was shipped home to Chicago on May 8th, and he was laid to rest on May 10th at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, IL on May 10th, the day before the Pier 86 ceremony. I think the Pier 86 memorial was mainly for the German victims (though I’m not sure why Moritz Feibusch was included, since he was a naturalized US citizen.)
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Looks like all the deaths are accounted for in this photograph, I can only make out 2 American flags too, dispersed in the middle. It just makes me think about what will happen 2 years from this picture. Zeppelins and airships united people across politics and nations…
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