| George Tievsky |
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Helped Liberate Dachau Camp
By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, May 6, 2007
George Tievsky, 89, an Army physician who helped liberate the Dachau
concentration camp in 1945 and who later owned a radiology practice in
downtown Washington for nearly 50 years, died April 16 at his home in
Chevy Chase. He had pancreatic cancer.
In 1944, Dr. Tievsky was commissioned a medical officer in the Army
and shipped to the European theater in anticipation of the invasion of
Germany. He served in the 66th Field Hospital in southern France and
Germany, attached to the Seventh Army.
He was a doctor in the first medical unit to liberate the Dachau
concentration camp in April 1945 and spent six weeks tending to survivors
of Dachau and the Allach forced labor camp. Only with the passage of time
was he able to talk about what he saw there.
I was a personal witness of the liberation of Dachau, he told a group in
2001. It was so unspeakable, and I could not speak of it for 40 years.
In a discussion for the Holocaust documentary To Bear Witness, Dr.
Tievsky recalled the horrors of what he saw.
I walked the streets of the pleasant, pretty little village of Dachau, and I
could smell the smell of the death camp. I said to myself, how could this be?
An observant Jew, he spoke extensively on his war experiences at the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and to military, educational and civic
groups throughout the D.C. area. His experiences were recorded in lengthy
wartime letters to his fiancee and in a recorded interview with the Shoah
Foundation in the 1990s. He recently had been writing a book and compiling
his letters.
Dr. Tievsky, the son of immigrants from the Ukraine, moved in 1920 to
the District, where his father bought a grocery store on Gale Street NE. Four
years later, his family moved to Tenleytown in Northwest Washington, and
his father opened the Wisconsin Market with the family living above the
store.
As a young boy, Dr. Tievsky was active in a Boy Scout troop composed
largely of children of Jewish immigrants.
He was a graduate of Western High School and received a bachelor's
degree in pharmacy from George Washington University
in 1939. He graduated from the university's medical school in 1943,
followed by a nine-month wartime internship in radiology.
After Dachau's liberation, Dr. Tievsky was ordered to the Pacific theater
in preparation for an expected invasion of Japan. On Aug. 6, 1945, his troop
ship was told to return to New York after the bombing of Hiroshima.
After World War II, he served medical residencies at Gallinger Municipal
Hospital -- a predecessor of D.C. General Hospital --
and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Washington. He operated a
private radiology practice in downtown Washington from 1950 to 1995,
where his patients ranged from local residents to diplomats and senior
government officials.
Dr. Tievsky was an early advocate of radiation safety regulations in the
1950s and 1960s and testified before government officials, pushing for
legislation seeking a balance between safety and sound public health policy.
The author of numerous scientific articles on radiation safety, he
published the book Ionizing Radiation: An Old Hazard in a New Era in
1962. For these efforts, he was elected to membership in the American
Roentgen Ray Society and was made a fellow of the American College of
Radiology.
Dr. Tievsky served as in-house radiologist for the Department of State
and for 25 years was chief of radiology with Group Health Association. A
clinical professor of radiology at George Washington University medical
school, he taught until 2002. He raised funds for construction of GWU's
medical school and was a life member of the Luther Rice Society, a group
of university donors.
Active in Jewish civic and philanthropic organizations, Dr. Tievsky
promoted bonds for the state of Israel, the United Jewish Appeal and the
Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, where he was an
advocate for the disabled. He was a past president of Phi Delta Epsilon, a
medical fraternity.
In the 1950s, Dr. Tievsky was a founding member of Congregation Beth
El of Montgomery County. In 2001, he and his wife were among the
founding members of Kol Shalom, a congregation in Rockville affiliated with
the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
He was a gifted photographer, an enthusiastic gardener and a member of
the Men's Gardening Club of Montgomery County.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Priscilla Tievsky of Chevy Chase;
five children, Dr. Andrew Tievsky of Cleveland, Seth Tievsky of
Washington, Karla Tievsky of Atlanta, Charles Tievsky of Oakton and
Robert Tievsky of Bethesda; a brother, Marvin Tievsky of Washington; and
10 grandchildren.
By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, May 6, 2007
George Tievsky, 89, an Army physician who helped liberate the Dachau
concentration camp in 1945 and who later owned a radiology practice in
downtown Washington for nearly 50 years, died April 16 at his home in
Chevy Chase. He had pancreatic cancer.
In 1944, Dr. Tievsky was commissioned a medical officer in the Army
and shipped to the European theater in anticipation of the invasion of
Germany. He served in the 66th Field Hospital in southern France and
Germany, attached to the Seventh Army.
He was a doctor in the first medical unit to liberate the Dachau
concentration camp in April 1945 and spent six weeks tending to survivors
of Dachau and the Allach forced labor camp. Only with the passage of time
was he able to talk about what he saw there.
I was a personal witness of the liberation of Dachau, he told a group in
2001. It was so unspeakable, and I could not speak of it for 40 years.
In a discussion for the Holocaust documentary To Bear Witness, Dr.
Tievsky recalled the horrors of what he saw.
I walked the streets of the pleasant, pretty little village of Dachau, and I
could smell the smell of the death camp. I said to myself, how could this be?
An observant Jew, he spoke extensively on his war experiences at the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and to military, educational and civic
groups throughout the D.C. area. His experiences were recorded in lengthy
wartime letters to his fiancee and in a recorded interview with the Shoah
Foundation in the 1990s. He recently had been writing a book and compiling
his letters.
Dr. Tievsky, the son of immigrants from the Ukraine, moved in 1920 to
the District, where his father bought a grocery store on Gale Street NE. Four
years later, his family moved to Tenleytown in Northwest Washington, and
his father opened the Wisconsin Market with the family living above the
store.
As a young boy, Dr. Tievsky was active in a Boy Scout troop composed
largely of children of Jewish immigrants.
He was a graduate of Western High School and received a bachelor's
degree in pharmacy from George Washington University
in 1939. He graduated from the university's medical school in 1943,
followed by a nine-month wartime internship in radiology.
After Dachau's liberation, Dr. Tievsky was ordered to the Pacific theater
in preparation for an expected invasion of Japan. On Aug. 6, 1945, his troop
ship was told to return to New York after the bombing of Hiroshima.
After World War II, he served medical residencies at Gallinger Municipal
Hospital -- a predecessor of D.C. General Hospital --
and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Washington. He operated a
private radiology practice in downtown Washington from 1950 to 1995,
where his patients ranged from local residents to diplomats and senior
government officials.
Dr. Tievsky was an early advocate of radiation safety regulations in the
1950s and 1960s and testified before government officials, pushing for
legislation seeking a balance between safety and sound public health policy.
The author of numerous scientific articles on radiation safety, he
published the book Ionizing Radiation: An Old Hazard in a New Era in
1962. For these efforts, he was elected to membership in the American
Roentgen Ray Society and was made a fellow of the American College of
Radiology.
Dr. Tievsky served as in-house radiologist for the Department of State
and for 25 years was chief of radiology with Group Health Association. A
clinical professor of radiology at George Washington University medical
school, he taught until 2002. He raised funds for construction of GWU's
medical school and was a life member of the Luther Rice Society, a group
of university donors.
Active in Jewish civic and philanthropic organizations, Dr. Tievsky
promoted bonds for the state of Israel, the United Jewish Appeal and the
Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, where he was an
advocate for the disabled. He was a past president of Phi Delta Epsilon, a
medical fraternity.
In the 1950s, Dr. Tievsky was a founding member of Congregation Beth
El of Montgomery County. In 2001, he and his wife were among the
founding members of Kol Shalom, a congregation in Rockville affiliated with
the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
He was a gifted photographer, an enthusiastic gardener and a member of
the Men's Gardening Club of Montgomery County.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Priscilla Tievsky of Chevy Chase;
five children, Dr. Andrew Tievsky of Cleveland, Seth Tievsky of
Washington, Karla Tievsky of Atlanta, Charles Tievsky of Oakton and
Robert Tievsky of Bethesda; a brother, Marvin Tievsky of Washington; and
10 grandchildren.
