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3-Being a German Jew in America

What were your experiences with anti-Semitism in America?

Relatively little. I don't remember any anti-Semitic incidents in the United States. I was very happy to be here. As a matter of fact, one example of that, is that once I came here I didn't want to speak German, anymore, at all. When my parents came three years after I did, I said to them, "Now look, you're in the United States now, I'm not going to speak German to you. I'm only going to speak English to you, so that you will learn English."

Did you hide your Judaism in America?

No. There was no reason to.

You were never embarrassed by the fact that you were Jewish?

No. I was quite proud to be Jewish. The Jewish religion, the Jewish culture, the Jewish ethnicity is one that has contributed very much to civilization, especially western civilization. I felt very attached to the principles of my religion. As you know, the Jewish religion became the mother religion to Christianity, and Islam to some extent. The principles of the Torah - the Five Books of Moses - the basic of which is "love thy neighbor as thyself," became one of the principles that Jesus pronounced in his Sermon on the Mount. Of course, he was Jewish himself. I felt quite proud to be Jewish, and in the United States there was no reason to hide it.

How much did people in America know of what was going on in Europe?

People where?

In America.

Different at different times. At the beginning, when Germany was making life miserable and impossible for us, economically and socially, this became fairly well known in the United States, and people protested here. But at that time the United States was fairly isolationist. The American people didn't want to get involved in Europe's problems. Later, when the actual Holocaust occurred, it took a while for the news to leak out.

Of course that was war time. The was started in September 1939, and they [the Nazis] overran Poland where there were more Jews than there were ever in Germany. From that time on there was no - they did not permit Jews even to leave. Nobody could get out. That is when they instituted their policy of mass murder, to get ride of the Jews that way. Now, the news about that leaked out very slowly. But there were indications that the Germans were committing mass murder of Jews in the eastern areas in Poland, later on in Western Europe - Russia, the Soviet Union - and other areas in Europe.

Did you talk about your experiences in Germany with Americans?

Yes, I think so, yes.

When you were in high school?

When I was in high school.

What did you say?

I had long discussions about, about experiences in Germany with schoolmates. I quite often compared it to how things were in the United States. Of course, Kansas City, Missouri was part of the old south before the Civil War, at the time of the Civil War, so there was much more segregation in Kansas City than there was in northern cities. In fact I think that the high school that I went to was practically all white - I'm pretty sure, yes. But I could empathize with the problems of the black children, particularly, because, just as the blacks had to sit in the back of the bus in the south, I had to sit in the back of the school room in Germany.

Returning to Germany as a U.S. Soldier

When and why did you join the army?

The United States got into the army [war] on December 7, 1941, the time of Pearl Harbor, as you know. I had wanted to volunteer but at that time I still was still not an American citizen. I was still technically German, so I was considered an "enemy alien," so they wouldn't allow me to volunteer. But they drafted me. I reported for active duty on November 24, 1942.

I was sent to Texas for my basic training. Right after my basic training was over, I went into federal court, raised my hand, and became an American citizen. Actually, it was easier than the normal way of becoming an American citizen, when you have to pass a test and have a couple of witnesses or something. I was in uniform. I didn't have to do any of that. I just went into federal court and became a citizen. This was in Paris, Texas.

Did people treat you differently because you were a German Jew?

Do you mean while I was in the army?

Yes.

No, it didn't affect my relationship with my fellow soldiers, hardly at all.

Eventually we were sent to Germany, or to Europe. Actually, what happened was right after basic training I was given the opportunity to take college courses in basic engineering at Oklahoma A & M College. I went there and I was there for three terms, and then they broke up the program, and sent us back to the combat troops. I was in the field artillery.

When I got to Europe my ability to speak German was helpful. In fact after the war was over, we were in western Austria - we became occupation troops for a while - and my commander put me in charge of two little towns. I was the boss of two little towns. I re-instituted the civil authority there. I appointed the mayor and re-instituted the fire department and things like that. My ability to speak German was helpful.

But so far as relations with other members of the service was concerned, there was no difference.

What sort of things did you do in Europe?

My division was the 103rd infantry division, and I was in the field artillery. We landed in Marseilles in 1944, after Marseilles had been liberated already. We landed there, got all our gear ready, and then we drove north to Alsace Lorraine, which is in northeastern France. That's where we got into combat. We fought our way across the Vosgues Mountains to the eastern part of Alsace, toward the Rhine. We were near Strasbourg - which you probably know today, it's the seat of the European parliament. Strasbourg.

At one point I was ten miles from my birthplace. But my birthplace was on the other side of the Rhine, so I was not able to get there. In fact, the Germans were counterattacking at that time, and we had to retreat just a few miles.

But eventually we started the big push which cleared the Germans out of Alsace Lorraine entirely. Eventually we were going to cross the Rhine. We went through southern Germany, through Württemberg and Bavaria, and from there into the Bavarian Alps, in western Austria. We captured Innsbruck, a big city. From there we went up to the Brenner Pass, which is the pass between Austria and Italy. That was our last action. Then right at the end of the war.

You might want to know how I felt about being an American soldier and fighting against Germany. I sort of knew what I was fighting for. I could tell you a little anecdote which might illustrate that. When we were in Marseilles, I bought a bottle of wine, French wine. I took it with me - didn't drink it. Every morning I rolled it up in my bedroll. Every evening I took it out of my bedroll and set it right next to me while I was sleeping. Nobody stole it. I took this bottle of wine with me and for weeks I handled it that way. Then, in Alsace, when we got close to the German border, I said to my battalion commander, "Colonel, when we fire the first shot across the German border, I want to be the one who fires that shot," with our howitzers, with our big guns. He says, "OK". I was at that time in battalion headquarters in the Fire Direction Center. We were doing the computations for the fire commands for the big guns. One evening I saw a notice that we were supposed to fire at such and such place, and it was across the German border. I said "Colonel, remember you promised me I could fire the first shot." He says, "OK, take a Jeep to Battery A and fire the shot." I did. I fired that shot. Then I came back to headquarters and that night we killed that bottle of wine. I think that will illustrate to you how I felt about it.