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Oral history interview with Franz Thaler

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2009.402.5 | RG Number: RG-50.654.0005

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    Oral history interview with Franz Thaler

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Franz Thaler, born in 1925 in Reinswald, Italy, discusses his time in hiding in the forest after the capitulation of Italy to Nazi Germany; his fear that he would be mobilized into the German Army; threats by local police against his family if he did not turn himself in to the authorities; his cousin, a supporter of the Nazi movement, who suggested that that he join the police unit in Schlanders; his sentence by an SS military judge to 10 years in prison as a deserter; his arrival in Dachau by train; being humiliated along with other prisoners in from the of the SS; failing medical tests that would send him to fight at the front; deaths of many prisoners at the hands of Kapos and from hunger and disease; the execution of prisoners by the SS; his transfer to Hersbruck, where he worked in a quarry and on the construction of the camp; attempted escapes by prisoners; the evacuation of the entire camp to Dachau; the bombing of the train by American forces; trucks and barracks full of bodies at Dachau, presumably left there because camp guards did not have time to burn them as American forces approached; and his liberation by the Americans.
    Interviewee
    Franz Thaler
    Date
    interview:  2009 December 07
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

    Physical Details

    Language
    German
    Extent
    1 videocassette (DVCAM) : sound, color ; 1/4 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust. The interview was directed and supervised by Nathan Beyrak.
    Funding Note
    The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 09:21:33
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn45404

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