Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
Loading...
Interviewer
Hirsh, Michael
Publication Date
June 2008
Abstract
Oral history interview with Holocaust concentration camp liberator Rip G. Rice. Rice was a member of the 104th Infantry Division, which liberated Nordhausen on April 11, 1945; he was in an engineering battalion, and his job was to purify water for the soldiers. The day his division found Nordhausen, they were en route to another town, and as they approached the camp they started to smell burning flesh. A military policeman met them on the road and diverted them towards the camp. Rice was physically and emotionally sick when he saw and smelled the corpses; after the war, he was very angry at the German people, but gradually his feelings changed to the point where he describes himself as a Germanophile. In this interview, he also recalls an encounter with a German chemist in 1967, who, during the war, was a member of the underground that saved several American soldiers by providing information about an attack.
Keywords
Concentration camps--History--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation, World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities, World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American, World War, 1939-1945--Veterans--United States, Veterans--United States--Interviews, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Holding Location
University of South Florida
Language
English
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
audio/mp3
Identifier
C65-00114
Recommended Citation
Rice, Rip G., "Rip G. Rice oral history interview" (2008). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 101.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/101
Rights Statement
