- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Dr. Joseph K., who enlisted in the United States army in September 1942 and accompanied Patton's Third Army to Buchenwald on April 13, 1945. He recounts his initial shock upon observing bodies stacked liked cordwood and his anger that the world allowed this to happen; total lack of preparation for such an encounter; attempts to help the survivors; their high death rate due to their inability to digest food; and his conversations with them during which they described some of their experiences and enlisted his aid in locating relatives in the United States. Dr. K. recalls the residents of nearby Weimar being ordered to visit Buchenwald, of which they claimed complete prior ignorance; the necessity for the American troops to suppress their own reactions in order to provide help; visits by United States Congressmen; and helping establish a hospital at Cham for displaced persons. Dr. K. discusses the organization of Buchenwald; a book published by his army unit; his family's inability to believe the horrors he described; and the importance of vigilance in preventing a recurrence. He also shows photographs.
- Author/Creator
- K., Joseph, 1923-
- Published
- Ventnor, N.J. : Federation of Jewish Agencies of Atlantic County/Stockton State College, Holocaust Oral History Project, 1990
- Interview Date
- September 26, 1990.
- Locale
- Cham (Germany)
- Cite As
- Joseph K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1415). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Kulp, Edmond A., interviewer.
Karp, Rochelle, interviewer.
