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Walter Chichersky Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on May 7, 2008.

Walter Chichersky

Holocaust photographer
Walter "Chik" Chichersky, 83, died April 14, 2008, at Gracedale Nursing Center. Born in Centralia, he was the son of the late Daniel and Catherine (Masynick) Chichersky. He was the husband of Janine Chichersky.

He served in the Army Signal Corps at the outbreak of World War ll. He was a combat soldier and then a photographer for Gen. George S. Patton. He was one of a few soldiers to hold a pass from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower allowing him admittance to any restricted area for photo-taking.

He was the first photographer to enter Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany where he met inmate Elie Wiesel, author of "Night." Some of his photos are displayed in the National Archives and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. His photographs were used as chief evidence to convict high-ranking Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials.

He was a member of St. Josaphat's Ukranian Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite, Bethlehem.

He worked at Bethlehem Steel Corp. before moving to Florida, where he worked as an expediter for Jet Avion near Miami.

He and his twin sisters Julia and Marie performed with a Ukranian dance group at the 1938 World's Fair in New York. He sang with the Ukranian Church choir in Bethlehem and later in Florida. He played in the Five Jars of Jam, a band that performed at weddings and parties throughout the Heights, where he grew up.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Daniel; two granddaughters, Kira and Tatiana of Florida; three nephews, Frances J. Bankowski and his wife Carol, Michael J. Horon and his wife Margaret and Joseph Foldes; four nieces, Michele Horon, Katrine and her husband Frederick Miles, Rosemary and her husband Erig Frey and Catherine and her husband Edward Junod; and many great-nieces and nephews.

Contributions may be made to St. Josaphat's Assumption of B.V.M. Church, North Paxton Street, Centralia 17927 or SPCA of Northampton County, 1165 Island Park Road, Easton 18042.

Arrangements were made by Connell Funeral Home, Bethlehem.