Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Hirsh, Michael
Publication Date
11-30-2008
Abstract
Oral history interview with Holocaust survivor Coenraad Rood. Rood was born in the Netherlands and was first taken prisoners by the Nazis in 1942 at the age of twenty-four. Altogether, he was a prisoner at eleven different camps but spent the most time at Gleiwitz, where he was for over two years. In January 1945 the Nazis began to move him and their other prisoners from camp to camp, trying to avoid the Allies, and Rood ended up at Ampfing, a sub-camp of Mühldorf, where he was liberated by the 14th Armored Division. Conditions at Ampfing were primitive even by concentration camp standards: the inmates lived in covered ditches and had no food or water. On the day of liberation, Rood was lying semiconscious in the barracks when he heard shouting about Americans; as he was unable to move, an American soldier picked him up and carried him outside. After the war, Rood was reunited with his first wife; they lived in the Netherlands for fifteen years and immigrated to the United States in 1960. Rood, a professional tailor, published his memoir in Germany in 2002.
Keywords
Concentration camps--History--Germany, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Netherlands--Personal narratives, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives, Holocaust survivors--Interviews, World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation, World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Holding Location
University of South Florida
Language
English
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
audio/mp3
Identifier
C65-00116
Recommended Citation
Rood, Coenraad, "Coenraad Rood oral history interview" (2008). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 103.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/103