The Liberators
Page 33
The story told by David Pardoe of the VE Day party with the French troops in Germany was an example of how men and women who’ve been through the worst that war has to offer can find good memories to talk about when they get together. He’s pondered that effect and takes it a step further. “You know, I’ve thought about why it is that all the veterans’ organizations support the government and support the wars that the government undertakes. None of them, the veterans’ organizations like ours, ever oppose that kind of thing. And one of the essential reasons is that veterans’ organizations are made up of, first of all, the survivors. And they—the memory system, our minds—tend to bury the unpleasant, the ugly, the things that are best forgotten, and to remember the good times, the happy times, the comradeship, the loyalty. And that’s why so many veterans still support war. Because they survived, and the memory plays this terrible trick. It suppresses the ugly and the real brutality. It’s true. But this is true in our personal lives, too, you know. It’s much easier to remember the happy times than the hard times.”
Frederick “Fritz” Krenkler
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
DACHAU
Driving to the reunion of the few remaining guys who served together in the 42nd Infantry Division, the Rainbow, Fritz Krenkler was listening to talk radio when someone called in to agree with the president of Iran saying the Holocaust never happened. At that moment, Krenkler’s blood pressure probably went off the charts. “I’m still mad about it. I would like to go over there and grab him by the balls and pull his tongue out. That SOB that called in telling [talk-show host] Mike Savage it never happened…. I don’t know where these people get this idea.”
Fritz is another World War II veteran who has exhibited classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, but he lived with it without getting help. Truth is, there was no help for it that was readily available at the postwar VA when it began chewing up the lives of guys like Krenkler, who was at Dachau with the 42nd. “I’m afraid I was a different person when I came back than when I went over. I had an anger in me that I didn’t understand. As a matter of fact, I didn’t understand that anger until ten years ago, when I got a little psychiatric help. That anger expressed itself in many ways. I got pretty nasty, probably never realized why.”
What got Fritz to a therapist was a severe blowup, the kind of anger that goes from A to Z in a second. And it nearly tore his family apart. “I never realized what was happening to me. I could have enjoyable weeks on end and have one, two, three days where my wife would want to just plain get rid of me. And I’d bury myself in work.”
Frederick “Fritz” Krenkler
Though his wife stayed with him, Fritz Krenkler’s explosions destroyed his relationship with two of his three children. “Two of them to this day won’t have anything to do with me. Makes me very sad because it’s a big hurt. And my oldest girl has cancer, and that makes me sad. I carried a package—but we all carried a package. I was not alone, that’s the big thing. I was even not as bad as some of them.”
Half a century after the war, he finally found a private therapist who could help him—mostly, he says, by letting him rant and rave. The therapist told him to let it out. “And this was the thing that was bottled up much, much too long.”
What he hasn’t done is talk to his buddies, the guys he survived the war with, and tell them how therapy helped. As we sat in a corner at the Mobile, Alabama, hotel where the men of the Rainbow were having their reunion, Fritz said, “This has been very private—as a matter of fact, you’re one of the first strangers I’ve mentioned it to.”
I said. “You did it because I pushed.”
And he responded, “Whether you did or not, it’s because I wanted to answer.”
Or maybe because it took only sixty-three years for a stranger to ask.
It wasn’t called post-traumatic stress disorder in 1945, and, like the GIs who later returned from battlefields in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the soldiers who came home from World War II, for the most part, just wanted to get on with their lives. Without official acknowledgment that combat messes with your head in a way that leaves invisible unhealed wounds, they were unlikely to seek help. And even sixty-five years later, they’re still having the occasional nightmare and flashback to their war years. But, as Harry Feinberg was forced to acknowledge, the ones who still survive have fewer buddies to call, to talk it through with. They know a soldier’s truth about war that those who’ve never been there will never know: a war doesn’t end just because some general signed a piece of paper. In some respects, for some, wars never end.
The postwar stories you’ve just read from the soldiers who fought in World War II are not meant to be perceived as museum library contributions—little pieces of oral history that have no present-day application. What these men have gone through, and are still going through, should be recognized by everyone, ordinary citizens and especially our elected officials, as part of the price that’s paid for going to war. The man or woman we send to war is not the same man or woman we get back. War is not that simple, that easy. If it didn’t change those who experience it, we should be very worried about the kind of young people our civilization is producing. What we must do as a nation to help our veterans readjust is learn to write the check to beef up postwar health services at the same moment as we dispatch the first planeload or shipload of soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, or coastguardmen.
Aside from letting your representatives in Congress and the president know how you feel about providing better-than-barely-adequate support for veterans, what’s the message for you, the nonveteran reading this book? It’s simple: if you know any veterans who have been lucky enough to come back from his or her war—whether World War II, one we are currently fighting, or any in between—do a good deed: ask them to tell you about their wartime experiences. If they hesitate, tell them you can handle what they have to say. And then pay close attention, really listen, no matter how difficult or emotional it becomes.
A memorial in the garden of the Hebrew Educational Alliance, a Denver Conservative synagogue, dedicated to the men of the 157th Infantry Regiment and to “all who liberated prisoners from Nazi concentration camps.”
If they turn you down once, ask again another day. Our veterans need to know that we support them, that we care. One of the best ways for an individual to do that is to explain that you want to know about their service to our country, that it’s important that we all know. It’s a demonstrably useful way to honor their service. No veteran should have to wait fifty years to be able to tell someone about it. You won’t regret that you asked.
And don’t put it off, especially with veterans of World War II. As Jim Bird, who was at Dachau with the 45th Infantry Division, warns, “Most of us are on the ‘slippery slope’ of life, and the leaves are falling every day.”
U.S. Army Signal Corps newsreel footage of the liberation of many concentration camps has been made available online at the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many of the scenes described in this book can be seen in this newsreel collection.
At the same site, you can access thousands of Holocaust-related photos from the National Archives as well as from private donors that the USHMM has digitized and made available in a searchable online catalog. Go to www.ushmm.org/research/collections/search/.
If you find the USHMM collections useful, you might want to consider making a contribution and/or becoming a member. Your financial support will help the USHMM continue this worthwhile work. You might also consider supporting Holocaust museums and educational centers situated elsewhere in the United States or the world.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to offer the largest possible measure of gratitude to the veterans who agreed to talk with me about the World War II experiences that brought them face-to-face with the Holocaust. Because they were willing to relive the unbelievable, future generations who, sadly, will not have the opp
ortunity to hear from them directly will still have an opportunity to study the words of these courageous men and women who are America’s witnesses to the Holocaust.
Tracking down veterans who were at the camps would have been much more difficult without the assistance of a key group of veterans (and a few nonveterans), some of whom have done their own research and writing about the liberators. Special thanks go to David L. Israel, the author of The Day the Thunderbird Cried, Dan P. Dougherty, Curtis Whiteway, Melvin H. Rappaport, Robert Enkelmann, Dee Eberhart, Forrest Lothrop, Russel Weiskircher, Jim Bird, George Slaybaugh, Jan Elvin, Donna Bernhardt, Mark Miller, Glen E. Lytle, and Robert Humphrey.
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Hugh Foster generously provided me a place to stay while I attended the reunion of the 80th Infantry Division at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, shared his expertise on the liberation of Dachau and on World War II military history, weapons, and tactics, personally guided me in researching World War II records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and carefully reviewed the manuscript.
I wish to express my gratitude to Walter H. Chapman for generously granting me permission to publish his wartime drawings of Salzwedel, and to his wife, Jean, for her logistical assistance. Thanks, also, to Dee R. Eberhart for permission to use his poem “KZ Dachau,” and to Warren E. Priest for permission to use his poem “My First Encounter.”
Of invaluable assistance in finding documents, photographs, liberators, survivors, and/or essential facts and details were: Geoffrey Megargee, PhD, applied research scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.; Frank R. Shirer, chief, Historical Resources Branch, U.S. Army Center of Military History at Fort McNair, D.C.; Lillian Gerstner of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, in Skokie; Dan Raymond, University of Illinois Library archive assistant in Urbana; Judy Janec, archivist at the Holocaust Center of Northern California, in San Francisco; Eleanora Golobic of American Field Service; Donna and Carl Phinney, Jr.; Gloria Deutsch of The Jerusalem Post; Baker Mitchell; and Theresa Lynn Ast, PhD, associate professor of history at Reinhardt College, whose encouragement and doctoral dissertation, “Confronting the Holocaust: American Soldiers Who Liberated the Concentration Camps,” provided a starting point for my research.
As she’s done for my previous books, Kathy Kirkland typed the interview transcripts, did an exceptional job of online research following leads generated by those interviews, and did her best to ensure that essential material was not overlooked.
Thanks to my information tech guru, Manuel Leyeza, who also served as my principal translator of German documents, and to my mother, Essie Hirsh, who was my go-to expert for Yiddish translations.
A select group of friends and relatives provided support, advice, and encouragement during the research and writing process, read early drafts, offered constructive criticism, and helped in other meaningful ways. They are Jon Eisenberg, Ira Furman, Todd Katz, Richard Greenwald, Peter Herford, Mike Farrell, Saryl Radwin, Leslie Sewell, Jennifer and Joel Weisberger, Rose and Robert Aronson, Richard and Laura Aronson, Sam Sola, and Jay Wolfson.
My agent, Matthew Bialer of Sanford J. Greenburger, Associates, was especially supportive of this project from the beginning, and was instrumental in shaping the proposal that ultimately resulted in this book. Thanks also to his assistant, Lindsay Ribar.
My editor, Philip Rappaport, and Bantam Dell’s publisher, Nita Taublib, expressed immediate enthusiasm for this project, and expended extraordinary effort to make it successful. I also want to thank the book’s designers, Casey Hampton and Barbara Bachman; the cover designer, Robbin Schiff; and the publicity department at Bantam Dell, especially its director, Theresa Zoro, and publicists Katie Rudkin and Diana Franco. Thanks also go to my editor’s assistant, Angela Polidoro; the copy editor, Lynn Anderson; the proofreaders, Maralee Youngs and Tita Gillespie; the cartographers, Mapping Specialists, Ltd.; and the production editor, Steve Messina.
Living with someone who has chosen to bury himself in the ugliness of the Holocaust for an intense, albeit limited, length of time, has its downside. And that is why I conclude these acknowledgments with particular thanks and love to the woman who, for more than forty years, has made me a better person, my wife, Karen.
LIST OF INTERVIEWEES
Abraham, Fred “Abie” Dachau 45th ID
Acevedo, Anthony Berga POW 70th ID
Adams, Albert J. Gusen-Mauthausen 11th AD
Anderson, Carl V. Landsberg, Dachau 63rd ID
Armstrong, Wayne Landsberg, Dachau 63rd ID
Ayers, Kenneth Salzwedel 84th ID
Baringer, Ralph J. Gardelegen 102nd ID
Bender, Bill Dachau 42nd ID
Bird, James Dachau 45th ID
Blatz, Louis Buchenwald 80th ID
Brockman, Clarence Buchenwald 80th ID
Brooks, John P. Ohrdruf, Flossenbürg 65th ID
Brooks, Morton Berga POW 42nd ID
Burrows, Robert Buchenwald 80th ID
Butt, Herbert Dachau 42nd ID
Cardinale, Tony Dachau 42nd ID
Caughey, Colvin Mauthausen and
death march 11th AD
Chalcraft, Elmer Landsberg, Dachau 63rd ID
Chaney, Charlotte Dachau 127th Evac
Chapman, Walter H. Salzwedel 84th ID
Cohen, Israel I. Kaufering IV Survivor
Cooper, Delbert Gunskirchen 71st ID
Courlas, George Dachau 45th ID
Critzas, John Landsberg 12th AD
De La Torre, Ventura Buchenwald 80th ID
DeMarzo, Peter J. Dachau 45th ID
DeTomasi, Aldo Dora-Mittelbau 104th ID
DeWitt, Jack Mühldorf 14th AD
Diamond, Bernie Ohrdruf 89th ID
Dorris, James Dachau 42nd ID
Dougherty, Dan Dachau 45th ID
Drell, Philip Dachau, Tekla Photographer
Dunbar, Harold Archie Battle of the Bulge 45th ID
Duoos, Robert S. Buchenwald 80th ID
Eberhart, Dee Dachau 42nd ID
Eisenstein, Morris Dachau 42nd ID
Ellmann, Werner Mauthausen 11th AD
Enkelmann, Robert F. Gardelegen 102nd ID
Fague, John W. Mauthausen 11th AD
Fasnacht, Bob Ebensee 80th ID
Feinberg, Harry Ohrdruf 4th AD
Feingold, Sol Dachau 42nd ID
Fellman, Norman Berga POW 70th/45th ID
Foster, Hugh Military historian
Friedenberg, Stanley Ohrdruf, Mauthausen CIC
Galegar, William Slave camp 99th ID
Gerenstein, Harry Buchenwald 6th AD
Glaz, Paul Ohrdruf 4th AD
Glenchur, Harry Ohrdruf 89th ID
Glucksman, Sidney Dachau, Gross-Rosen Survivor
Gock, Roy Ampfing, Mühldorf 14th AD
Hall, Wendell, PhD Landsberg 36th ID
Hallowell, John R. Dachau 45th ID
Harrison, Milton Buchenwald 6th AD
Harvey, Thomas Death march at Cham 11th AD
Heimberg, Eli Dachau 42nd ID
Hermon, Eliot Ohrdruf 65th ID
Herzmark, Leonard E. Buchenwald 120th Evac
Highsmith, Robert Ampfing 14th AD
Holma, Tarmo Flossenbürg 11th AD
Horton, May Macdonald Buchenwald 120th Evac
Irzyk, Albin Ohrdruf 4th AD
Israel, David Military writer
Jacobson, Barry Landsberg 63rd ID
James, Ernest C. Nordhausen 104th ID
Keeton, Shelby Mauthausen 11th AD
Kerins, Jack Landsberg, Dachau 63rd ID
Kerr, Creighton Salzwedel 84th ID
Klein, Jerome E. Dachau 14th AD
Koch (Kucharsky), Vincent Landsberg/Kaufering 63rd ID
Krenkler, Frederick Dachau 42nd ID
Lane, Rosella Willis Buchenwald 120th Evac
Larson, Orville Mauthausen 11th AD
Latimer, Don Death train near
Landsberg 36th ID
Law, Phyllis LaMont Gusen
1–Mauthausen 131st Evac
Leu, Arthur Nordhausen 104th ID
Liberman, Sigmund Nordhausen 104th ID
Limor, Menachem Buchenwald Survivor
Lipsius, Joe Landsberg/Kaufering 69th ID
Little, Ray David Ohrdruf 89th ID
Lubin, Leonard Wels II, Mauthausen 71st ID
Mahlen, Duane Mauthausen 11th AD
Malan, Tom Landsberg/Kaufering 63rd ID
Mann, Karl Dachau 45th ID
Marcinek, John P. Nordhausen 104th ID
Maroon, Dorothy Gusen 1–Mauthausen 131st Evac
Marx, Art Gusen-Mauthausen 11th AD
Maurice, Roger Slave camp 99th ID
Melman, Nathan Ampfing 14th AD
Moran, Hana Berger Mauthausen Survivor
Motzko, Edmund Gardelegen 102nd ID
Myers, Gerald Virgil Buchenwald 80th ID
Nachman, Monroe “Monty” Landsberg 103rd ID
Ogle, Wayne L. Ahlem, Salzwedel 84th ID
Olson, John R. Dora-Nordhausen 104th ID
Oltjenbruns, Elton Gardelegen 102nd ID
O’Neil, Eugene Buchenwald 80th ID
Panebianco, Al Dachau 45th ID
Pardoe, David Landsberg 63rd ID
Parker, Leonard Dachau 45th ID
Pauzar, Karl Ampfing 14th AD
Payne, Charles T. Ohrdruf 89th ID
Pecchia, Domenick J. Landsberg/Kaufering 63rd ID
Persinger, Robert Ebensee 80th ID
Petersohn, LeRoy Mauthausen 11th AD
Peterson, Ray W. Landsberg 63rd ID
Peyton, Dallas Dachau 20th AD
Pierro, Aurio J. Dora 3rd AD
Priest, Warren E. Buchenwald 120th Evac
Rappaport, Melvin Buchenwald 6th AD
Ray, Robert Nordhausen 3rd AD
Rheney, John, Jr. Nordhausen 104th ID
Rice, Rip Dora-Mittelbau 104th ID
Robinson, Forrest Nordhausen 104th ID
Rogers, Chan Dachau 45th ID
Rood, Coenraad Ampfing Survivor
Rose, James Dachau 42nd ID
Ross, Irv Dachau 45th ID
Salvio, Sal Buchenwald 4th AD