Oral history interview with Allen Cohen
Transcript
- --Florida when I was an army infantryman in World War II.
- My talk deals with the liberation
- of the Dachau concentration camp on--
- by the American Army on the 29th of April, 1945.
- Today, we have neo-Nazis and antisemitic
- self-styled historians who claim that the Holocaust never
- occurred and that it is a myth invented by the Jew.
- I was an infantryman who entered the camp on the liberation day.
- And let me tell you, what I saw was no myth.
- I like to go into a little background
- history of the Dachau concentration camp.
- The Dachau camp was the first Nazi concentration
- camp built and among the last to be liberated.
- A few days later, the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria
- was freed on the 5th of May, 1945,
- thus ending the Holocaust nightmare for the European
- Jews.
- In 1933, when Hitler became the chancellor of Germany,
- Heinrich Himmler at the time was the police commissioner
- of the city of Munich.
- He submitted an article in a Munich newspaper,
- where he announced the construction
- of a new kind of a prison camp to be
- built near the city of Dachau, which was about
- 11 miles northwest of Munich.
- He forewarned that the prison would be run
- without scruples or compassion.
- Actually, the Nazis built the prison
- that would become an instrument of terror, whereby
- they were able to keep in line Hitler's enemies and members--
- and the citizens of Germany.
- The prison opened on the 22nd of March,
- 1933 with the purpose of housing and rehabilitating
- the enemies of the Nazi regime.
- A mammoth SS facility was added to the prison in 1937,
- where the SS men were trained to staff the concentration camps
- and also taught the arts of murder and intimidation.
- Also in 1937, towards the end of the year,
- a medical experimental facility was
- added, where live prisoners were used
- as guinea pigs for experiments in military survival.
- Himmler, who headed the SS organization,
- formed a permanent prison guard, called the Death Heads,
- or Totenkopfs.
- These men were selected from the rural area,
- where antisemitism ran high.
- Most of these SS guards had criminal records
- before they were appointed as guards.
- As a matter of fact, the first commander of the Dachau
- camp, Theodore Eicke, he was released from an insane asylum
- only a year earlier.
- He instituted a set of rules for the camps
- which was followed and adopted by all other concentration
- camps.
- He called for instant shooting or hanging
- any prisoner who disobeyed an order given by the guard,
- or one who struck a guard, any who tried to escape--
- and very few ever did escape--
- passing notes to Red Cross inspectors,
- and inducing others to escape from the prison
- or setting fires.
- The first reported killing in Dachau
- occurred on the 25th of May of the same year it opened, 1933.
- The public prosecutor at that time,
- with the approval of Himmler, he began an investigation.
- But the murderer, a prison guard,
- was never brought to justice.
- Other killings in the prison followed.
- But this time, Commander Eicke and Himmler
- would immediately dismiss all charges.
- Himmler would react violently when a public prosecutor
- tried to perform an investigation
- of a murder in Dachau.
- He finally succeeded in inducing the prosecutors to join the SS.
- He offered them a higher salary.
- And investigations came to a halt.
- And then finally, the German courts
- ruled that all actions of the SS are legal,
- since they were an arm of the state,
- following the orders of the führer, Adolf Hitler.
- In appearance, the Dachau camp resembled
- an American military post.
- One passed tree-lined streets, beautiful streets,
- with beautiful homes, which were occupied by SS
- officers and their families.
- There were barracks for the officers and the enlisted men.
- There were a hospital.
- There was a large swimming pool.
- They had a large rifle range.
- There were some factories, which turned out
- porcelain objects, religious objects, bicycle parts,
- and some clothing.
- In the northeast corner of that prison,
- of that sector of Dachau, was the infamous prison.
- It was surrounded by a 10-foot-high electric fence.
- And that was surrounded by a 15-foot moat.
- On the other side of the moat were
- the dog kennels, which housed 120 large attack dogs.
- Plans for the prison called for 5,000 prisoners maximum.
- However, on liberation day, the camp held 32,000 prisoners.
- And a few days earlier, it had as much as 46,000 prisoners.
- There were 34 barracks which housed the prisoners.
- And the barracks were split in half by the prisoner street,
- thus there were 17 barracks on each side of the street.
- Each barrack had 52 double-tier bunks.
- And most barracks had no toilets,
- so the prisoners had to visit other barracks
- to relieve themselves or obtain a drink of water.
- South of the barracks was a large square,
- known as the Appellplatz.
- A roll call took place in the square
- every morning and evening.
- Public hangings and whippings were
- held in the square in full view of the prisoners standing
- at attention.
- South of the square was a large U-shaped building,
- which housed the kitchen, and the showers,
- and some workshops.
- The crematorium was located a short distance
- to the west of the prison.
- The crematorium was hidden by trees.
- So the prisoners were not--
- were unable to see the structure.
- It was a long building with a large smokestack standing up
- near the center of the building.
- I seen outside the structure dead bodies
- piled up as high as the windowsill,
- stretching from one end of the building up
- to the main entrance.
- Upon entering the building, and veering towards the right,
- was a room measuring around 20 by 40 feet,
- containing bodies stacked up to the ceiling awaiting cremation.
- The stench of the decaying bodies was enormous.
- Three ovens occupied the main area.
- I opened up an oven door and saw the skeletal remains
- of a victim.
- There was a gas chamber on the site.
- But I did not see any dead bodies.
- A former prisoner named Gun later
- wrote a book in which he claims that 2,000
- Polish and Hungarian Jews were gassed in the chamber.
- Some Holocaust scholars believed the chamber was used
- and that it was cleaned up before the arrival
- of the Americans.
- In the yard behind the crematorium
- was a large mound, which was used to stop
- bullets leaving one's body.
- Many prisoners were beaten and clubbed at this mound.
- A working assignment feared by the prisoners
- was waking in the gravel pits.
- They were constantly beaten to increase their yield
- or they received a beating if they paused to rest.
- Another despised job was hauling snow in the winter months.
- This task was generally delegated
- to Polish priests who were harnessed to wagons
- and forced to pull the load at a galloping speed
- to the dumping grounds.
- Camp material was transported at other times
- in a similar fashions.
- Prisoners had to remove their cap when a guard passed them by
- or bow to a guard.
- Failure to do so meant a beating with any instrument
- that the guard had on hand.
- And many prisoners did not understand German.
- And this gave a guard an excuse to kill or beat a prisoner.
- Prisoners considered themselves lucky
- when they were selected to work outside the camp in factories
- or military establishments just to get away
- from the sadist guards.
- When they arrived at their destination,
- the German Wehrmacht or army took over,
- and the prisoners received additional food,
- such as at lunchtime, they obtained a plate of soup
- and a slice of bread.
- They were permitted to read the German newspapers
- and catch up with the news.
- They were elated when they read that America
- was entering the war.
- And Franklin Roosevelt became a hero for them.
- When they heard of the death of President Roosevelt,
- they had lost a friend and much hope.
- A number committed suicide upon hearing the news.
- In the medical facility, a Dr. Asher and a Professor
- Schilling, who was well-renowned,
- performed experiments on humans related to military survival.
- The experiments consisted of immersing prisoners
- in ice water.
- And other prisoners were exposed to frigid conditions
- other than water.
- Victims were exposed to high altitude pressure conditions.
- And others were suspended in parachute harnesses
- for a prolonged period of time.
- Parts of one cheek was removed to study coagulation
- and resistances to infection.
- Prisoners were shot to study wound mending.
- Prisoners were injected with typhus and pus
- in search for cures.
- Others were tested to see the amount of salt
- that they can assume.
- The prisoners either died during the experiment
- or were exterminated after the ordeal.
- Near the end of April 1945, the American Army
- was fighting its way towards Munich,
- when an urgent message was received by the 157th Infantry
- Regiment of the 45th Division to send a detachment to liberate
- the Dachau concentration camp.
- The regiment selected its Third Battalion, commanded
- by a Colonel Sparks as the main strike force.
- Colonel Sparks chose his I Company
- to spearhead the attack and M Company with its heavy weapons
- to assist.
- Now, these soldiers of the 45th Division
- were known as the Thunderbirds--
- had seen lots of combat.
- They were in action in Salerno, Italy, and Anzio,
- and the beachhead of Southern France.
- They moved up France, they liberated
- Alsace, the Rhineland, and they fought in Nuremberg,
- and finally captured Munich.
- Private First Class Degro was selected as the lead scout.
- And the route selected was to walk down the tracks which
- led to the concentration camp.
- Private First Class Degro came across 39 cars,
- consisting of cattle cars and gondola types.
- When he reached the parked train,
- he seen over 2,000 dead bodies.
- And there were several dead bodies lying on the tracks.
- But they were the bodies of the prisoners who tried to escape.
- Only seven prisoners were found alive,
- but they died within a few days.
- The Americans had never seen such a sight
- and swore revenge that no SS would be taken alive.
- Now, as they passed the train, right near the train
- was a hospital.
- When they entered the hospital and seen how comfortable
- the patients were, they ordered everyone out,
- regardless of their condition.
- Private First Class Degro now advanced.
- He came across a cross in the closure which had a locked gate
- and he shot the lock off.
- And Americans then entered the prison compound.
- Up to this point, the SS did not engage the Americans.
- Colonel Sparks spread his men around the barracks
- for protection.
- One of the tower guards began to fire with his machine gun.
- The fire was returned and he was killed.
- The other tower guard, seeing the large number of Americans
- entering the camp, either surrendered or fled.
- Those who surrendered were shot on the spot.
- Sporadic firing-- there was firing from the barracks.
- And the firing lasted around an hour.
- And then finally, the camp was secured.
- No American lost his life in the battle.
- However, around 30 SS were killed in the combat.
- Another 120 were shot on the spot.
- About 40 other SS guards were killed by the prisoners,
- but that included the kapos, informers, and SS
- who donned prisoner's uniforms.
- The Americans rounded up another 400--
- rather, 348 SS men, who surrendered.
- They lined them up along a long wall near the hospital.
- They set up two machine guns.
- And finally, the gunners were given an order
- to shoot them down.
- Some SS feigned death, while others, who were badly wounded,
- begged to be killed.
- The Americans obliged by giving pistols
- to four prisoners who were standing nearby.
- The four passed down the line, firing into the heads of those
- alive.
- The only SS to get out alive from Dachau
- were the doctors and the medics.
- Some Americans watched as prisoners were
- killing SS guards with shovels.
- And an American officer was seen clubbing an SS guard
- with the butt of his rifle to death.
- The prisoners were aware that the Americans
- were getting close by the sound of the explosion.
- But they had no idea what the SS would have in store for them.
- So they developed a strong fear.
- Unknown to the prisoners was that Himmler
- had ordered the camp commander to kill
- all the prisoners before the arrival of the Americans.
- The camp commander wanted to surrender the camp,
- but Himmler turned down the request.
- Why Himmler's order was not followed is unknown.
- The camp commander left the camp the day earlier with his aides,
- and he headed for satellite camps.
- And the following day, he committed suicide.
- When the prisoners caught sight of the Americans in the camp,
- pandemonium erupted and they all shouted,
- the Americans are here, and we are finally free.
- The celebration continued all day and night.
- The prisoners raided the kitchen and they managed
- to find bags of potatoes.
- And they were found cooking the potatoes
- in the alleyway all day long.
- The Americans gave them their ration boxes,
- their cigarettes, candy, and some Americans
- took off their jackets and gave them to the needy ones.
- Among the prisoners liberated were Leon Blum,
- who was the premier of France.
- Stalin's son was liberated.
- Molotov's nephew was liberated.
- Pasteur Niemoller, who was the German submarine hero,
- was liberated, and others of nobility rank.
- The vile reputation of the Dachau camp
- was known to most of the American soldiers.
- But coming to face with the hundreds of dead bodies
- and living skeletons shocked the Americans.
- I entered a barrack where the emaciated victims
- were lying on the bunks.
- But all managed to smile when they saw me and greeted me.
- And two Catholic priests outside on the street
- approached me and asked for some cigarettes.
- They were dressed in their long cassock attire.
- But most outstanding was the wide white collar
- around their thin necks.
- They could have not weighed more than 90 pounds.
- I recognized some Jews by their yellow markings.
- I approached them and spoke to them in Yiddish.
- And one word kept repeating, the word was schmitz.
- They were always being clubbed for almost--
- just at the whim of a guard and mostly
- because they were Jewish.
- The following day, my company left the camp
- to rejoin the division in the Battle of Munich.
- American soldiers of nearby units
- were brought into the camp to bear witness to the atrocities.
- Movie photographers and scout planes
- were taking shots of the horrible scenes.
- The army had some Germans from the city of Dachau come in,
- and clean up the mess, and bury the dead.
- The Germans appeared shocked at the sight,
- for many were acquaintances of the SS guards.
- I talked with the wife of an SS guard,
- who told me that her prisoner was not a guard
- and that her husband was a barber in the camp
- and never killed any prisoner.
- Munich fell to the Americans in a few days, and the war ended.
- However, my company was returned to guard the Dachau
- camp a second time.
- The camp now had an SS compound housing
- mostly the SS Waffen troops.
- The SS compound also held the SS tank unit
- that captured a complete American field
- artillery at Malmedy during the first day
- of the Battle of the Bulge.
- The Americans had surrendered, but they were all shot down.
- These SS men were later tried, found guilty,
- and sentenced to death.
- I learned later that because of the harsh treatment that they
- received from the American prison guards,
- they were never executed.
- I guarded some of the SS and work details.
- And they swore that they were always front line troops
- and never served in any concentration camp.
- I was also stationed to guard a gate
- adjacent to the women barracks.
- Most women were ill.
- And there were no toilets in their barrack,
- so they had to visit the adjacent building
- to relieve themselves.
- Most were too weak to make it.
- As they exited their barrack, they
- had to squat down to relieve themselves.
- A young girl around the age of 12
- showed me the whip lashes across her back,
- and there were many of them, which
- she received for stealing a potato
- to give to her sick sister.
- The Germans of Dachau, of the city of Dachau,
- told me they knew nothing what went on inside the camp.
- They were forbidden to approach the camp or the railroad
- tracks leading to the camp.
- They did hear the wailing of the prisoners in the cattle cars
- as the cars passed slowly by.
- They saw the constant black smoke coming
- from the crematory chimney.
- And they were angered because the soot from the smoke
- would dirty their laundry which was on the line.
- A few saw dead bodies being carried out
- of the camp on carts.
- Although Germany had numerous concentration camps,
- the German government preserved only one--
- the Dachau concentration camp.
- It is the most toured concentration camp by people
- of the Western countries.
- There is a charge to enter the camp today.
- There is a museum that contains large pictures
- of the atrocities.
- There is a Carmelite convent on the ground
- in memory of the Jesuit priest Adolph Delp,
- who was murdered in the camp for participating
- in the assassination of Hitler.
- And there are a number of religious memorial structures
- in the camp.
- The Dachau citizens, however, are not
- pleased to have the Holocaust memorial in their backyard.
- They want the Holocaust to be totally forgotten
- and let bygones be bygones.
- The young Dachau Germans claim that they're not
- responsible for the acts of their parents.
- And yet, I heard that many of them
- are still strongly antisemitic.
- Thank you for the--
- Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for an enlightening talk.
- Mr. Allen Cohen is a member of our post number
- 759, Orlando, Florida of the Jewish War
- Veterans of the United States.
- Let's give Allen another round of applause for being.
Overview
- Interviewee
- Allen L. Cohen
- Date
-
interview:
1989 April 23
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
1 videocassette (VHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 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
- Topical Term
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation--Germany--Dachau. World War, 1939-1945--Jewish participation.
- Geographic Name
- Dachau (Germany)
- Personal Name
- Cohen, Allen.
- Corporate Name
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Allen Cohen donated the oral testimony to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in December 1989.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:13:27
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn520359
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