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Oral history interview with Bertram Kornfeld

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1997.A.0441.110 | RG Number: RG-50.462.0110

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    Oral history interview with Bertram Kornfeld

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Bertram Kornfeld, born in Vienna, Austria in 1925, describes his immigration to the United States in 1938; joining the US Army in February 1944; serving in the 423rd Battalion of the 106th Infantry Division; being captured by German soldiers in Belgium, near Malmedy with his crew during the Battle of the Bulge; being forced to march with many other prisoners for several days to a railroad, where they were crowded into cattle cars; being taken to Koblenz, where the locked cars were left overnight in a railroad yard and being narrowly missed by RAF bombers; arriving at Stalag 4-B, located between Leipzig and Dresden, Germany, in December 1944; the bitter cold, the callous disregard of sick and dying prisoners, and the lack of food and water during the transport; his liberation in April 1945, at which point he had lost 50 pounds; how the Germans observed the Geneva Convention in regard to American and British prisoners, but brutally mistreated the Russians; how the Russian liberators of his camp were drunken and slaughtered the remaining Germans, but befriended the prisoners by baking bread for them; fleeing with some friends and meeting American soldiers in Leipzig; being given rich food, which sickened them and required a brief hospitalization; returning to the US; and being discharged in December 1945.
    Interviewee
    Bertram Kornfeld
    Date
    interview:  1994 March 07
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    2 sound cassettes (60 min.).

    Rights & Restrictions

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

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Kornfeld, Bertram, 1925-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive conducted the interview with Bertram Kornfeld in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 7, 1994. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the tapes of the interview from Gratz College in August 2003.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:36:35
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn515629

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