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Seventy Years: The American Angels of Hillersleben.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 20, 2015|

The cosmos trips once more. This month, shortly after my previous post about the discovery of previously unknown artwork by Hungarian Holocaust survivor Ervin Abadi, I was contacted by the family of another American soldier who was at Hillersleben camp as the survivors of the train were being nursed back to health by the medics […]

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A Survivor recounts from Hillersleben (1945)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2008| 1 Comment »

A new friend in the Netherlands recently acquired this unsigned narrative by a Polish survivor who was liberated on the train by the Americans. This woman was eighteen when the war began, it looks like from Cracow, and the narrative was written shortly after liberation (as you can see from the letterhead, on the German […]

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The hospital at Hillersleben

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on November 15, 2008| 8 Comments »

(Christian Wolpers photo.) This account is taken from 1st Lt. Frank Towers’ recollection: “First of importance was getting food, water and medical assistance to these victims.Our 105th Medical Battalion was called upon to survey this group and give immediate attention to those most in need.The 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Dettmer immediately contacted […]

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The first miracle of my survival.

Posted in TRAIN NEAR MAGDEBURG LIBERATION 75 on February 9, 2020|

COUNTDOWN TO LIBERATION-75 YEARS “T-minus” 65 DAYS Countdown to Commemoration at Farsleben, Germany-Millions of people were on the move. On April 13, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the first train transport out of Bergen-Belsen, I will board an airplane for Germany. I will return to the site of the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, […]

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27 Gallons of Blood.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2019| 3 Comments »

The Old Coach is being buried today. As I write this, he is being eulogized by those who knew him and loved him best. Losing an old soldier is a heavy road I have been down many times, but it’s taken me a week to compose my thoughts on best serving his memory. In a […]

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The New Witnesses.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 29, 2019| 10 Comments »

There was another shooting at a synagogue on American soil. Sometimes I wonder if my efforts to teach about the Holocaust mean anything. Sometimes you just feel helpless. But I realize now that it is probably the most important job I have ever done, maybe now more than ever. Two weeks ago I introduced Pittsburgh […]

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Freedom and new life, and a special reunion 74 years on.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 21, 2019|

The portal opened a crack this week and I stepped through it once more. We pulled it off, in this time of reflection, Passover and the Easter season. Liberation. Resurrection. New Life. And a reunion of sorts, 74 years in the making, to commemorate it all. There were a lot of moving parts, but we […]

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“I prayed that they would find peace.”

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on April 15, 2019|

“Is this Matt Rozell, the history teacher? Yes? Well Matt Rozell, God bless you and your family!” Tomorrow I am going to meet the man who called me on the telephone in my classroom in October 2011. To this day I’m not sure how he found me, or how he got my number at school. […]

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“You will always be in my heart”—German student looking to reunite Greek survivor with German friend.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 18, 2019| 2 Comments »

I was contacted by a German teen who goes to school in the vicinity of the liberation site of the Train Near Magdeburg. She, her class, and her teacher are working with others to establish a memorial to the survivors to be dedicated in spring 2020 for the 75th anniversary of the liberation. They know […]

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From the cattle car to the State of the Union.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 7, 2019| 11 Comments »

I saw a friend on TV the other night. About 50 million other Americans did too; maybe you were one. Well, here is a backstory to all that. After the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting in October, a couple of people familiar with the Train Near Magdeburg story reached out to me to ask […]

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