Liberation

As the Allies retook control of lands that had been occupied by the Germans, they came across
many Nazi camps. In some instances, the Nazis had tried to destroy all evidence of the camps, in
order to conceal from the world what had happened there. In other cases, only the buildings
remained as the Nazis had sent the prisoners elsewhere, often on death marches.
However, in many camps, the Allied soldiers found hundreds or even thousands of emaciated
survivors living in horrific conditions, many of whom were dying of malnourishment and
disease.
The liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps began in Eastern Europe when
Soviet troops reached Majdanek in July 1944. Soon they found many other camp sites, some of
which were camouflaged from the outside. The British and American troops who were
approaching from the west did not reach the concentration camps of Germany until the spring of
1945. What they found were tens of thousands on the verge of death, as well as piles upon piles
of corpses. The Allied liberators tried to help the survivors, but many died anyway in the weeks
after liberation
Martin Aaron
Language: English

Martin relates his experience of being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in
Germany in April 1945. Martin Aaron was born April 21, 1929, in Teresva, Czechoslovakia.
Growing up in the nearby Jewish community of Sapanta, Romania, Martin recalls experiencing
antisemitism, which intensified after Hungary annexed the area in 1940. In 1944, the Hungarians
and Germans forced Martin, his parents, and five siblings to move into the Tacovo ghetto before

they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, Martin was separated from his parents
and four of his siblings, who were murdered there. He remained in Auschwitz-Birkenau for one
month before he was sent on a forced march, first to Bunzlau and then on to Nordhausen and
Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. After being liberated by the British Army from BergenBelsen, Martin spent time in two displaced persons camps, finally leaving for the United States
in March 1948. In the United States, Martin worked as a tailor and served the United States
Army in Korea. At the time of his interview in 1997, Martin was married with three children and
two grandchildren.

Rose Kaplovitz
Language: English
Rose describes her realization that the war had ended and her experience of being liberated from
Ober Altstadt labor camp in Czechoslovakia in May 1945.Rose Kaplovitz was born Rozia Zaks
on September 6, 1930, in Sosnowiec, Poland. Rose remembers her childhood in the Jewish
community on the Polish-German border as relatively happy and secure. However, on the second
day of the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Rose witnessed her brothers
execution by German officers. In 1942, Rose and other family members were moved to the
Sosnowiec ghetto while her two older sisters were sent for forced labor in Ober Altstadt,
Czechoslovakia. Through information gleaned from the sisters postcards, Roses parents decided
it was safer to volunteer thirteen-year-old Rose to join her sisters in the labor camp, where she
worked spinning thread for two years. Rose and her sisters were liberated by the Soviet Army in
May 1945. After learning the rest of their family had been murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the
three sisters were able to join a childrens transport to the United States in September 1947. At

the time of her interview in 1995, Rose was living with her husband, fellow survivor Henry
Kaplovitz, in Florida and had three children.

Charlotte Chaney
Language: English
Charlotte shares her experience as a U.S. Army nurse who participated in the liberation of the
Dachau concentration camp in Germany in May 1945.Charlotte Chaney was born Charlotte
Ellner on October 15, 1921, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Charlotte was trained as a nurse and
then volunteered for the Army Air Corps in 1944. That same year she married United States
Navyman Bernard Chaney. In May 1945, Charlotte was sent to Europe as a part of the Red
Cross, not knowing she was about to take part in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp.
Charlotte, who was Jewish, was among a group of nurses who accompanied American soldiers
when they entered Dachau concentration camp. There, she helped clean up the camp and nurse
survivors back to health. Charlotte returned to the United States in August of 1945, where she
continued her career in nursing. At the time of her interview in 1995, Charlotte was living with
her husband in Miami, Florida, and had one daughter and two grandsons.

Kurt Klein
Language: English
Kurt describes liberating survivors of a death march in May 1945, in Volary, Czechoslovakia,
including his first encounter with his future wife, Gerda. Kurt Klein was born July 2, 1920, in
Walldorf, Germany. As the Nazi persecution of German Jews intensified, Kurts parents decided
to send him and his siblings to live with distant relatives in Buffalo, New York, where he worked

in various jobs, including the printing business, trying to raise enough money to bring his parents
to the United States. Kurt was drafted into the United States Army in 1943. After participating in
the Normandy campaign in 1944, Kurt served as a prisoner-of-war interrogator. While in
Czechoslovakia, Kurt met his future wife, survivor Gerda Weissmann. At the end of his service
toward the end of 1945, Kurt proposed to Gerda before returning to the printing business in
Buffalo. A year later in August 1946, Kurt and Gerda married in Paris and then settled in Buffalo.
During the war, Kurt's parents were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they perished. At the
time of Kurts interview in 1995, he and Gerda had three children and eight grandchildren, and
were living in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kurts unique point of view is that of both a survivor and a
liberator.

Gerda Klein
Language: English
Gerda describes being liberated by the United States Army and encountering her future husband,
U.S. Army Lt. Kurt Klein, in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in May 1945. Gerda Klein was born Gerda
Weissmann on May 8, 1924, in Bielsko, Poland. Gerda and her brother, Arthur, grew up
relatively unaware of the spread of Nazism, until Poland was invaded in 1939; soon after, Arthur
was taken away on a transport. In April 1942, Gerda and her parents were ordered into the
Bielsko ghetto. Two months later, Gerda, her mother, and father were separated, and Gerda was
sent to the Sosnowitz transit camp in Poland. She never saw her family again. After that, Gerda
was moved from camp to camp. In January 1945, Gerda was sent on a death march from the
Grnberg labor camp to the Helmbrechts labor camp in Germany and from there continued into
Czechoslovakia. Gravely ill during the forced march, Gerda was liberated by the American

Army, including her future husband, Lt. Kurt Klein, in Volary, Czechoslovakia. In August 1946,
Gerda and Kurt were married in Paris before rreturning to Kurt's home in Buffalo, New York.
There, Gerda would eventually work as a columnist for the Buffalo Evening-News. At the time of
her interview in 1995, Gerda was living with her husband in Scottsdale, Arizona, and had three
children and eight grandchildren.