Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Hirsh, Michael
Publication Date
September 2008
Abstract
Oral history interview with Holocaust concentration camp liberator Leo Serian. Serian was a member of the 65th Infantry Division, which liberated Hersbruck, a sub-camp of Flossenbürg on April 20, 1945. The day they discovered the camp, his company was on their way to rendezvous with other units when they came across a gate, out of which two German trucks fled. The division went into the camp and saw dozens of bodies, including a stack of corpses Serian estimates to have been about eight feet high; some of the prisoners were still alive and crawled towards the soldiers. The soldieres did not walk around the camp but tried to comfort the inmates, though they did not have enough rations to give them any. Serian's unit was only in Hersbruck for a short time before they were relieved. In 1995, he began speaking about his experience and, though the National Holocaust Museum, wrote letters to the survivors he liberated.
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
C65-00125
Recommended Citation
Serian, Leo, "Leo Serian oral history interview" (2008). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 110.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/110
Rights Statement
