Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Hirsh, Michael
Publication Date
December 2008
Abstract
This is an oral history interview with Holocaust concentration camp liberator Manfred Steinfeld. Steinfeld was a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division, which liberated Wöbbelin, a sub-camp of Neuengamme, on May 2, 1945. He was not present when the 82nd Airborne found the camp since he was with a group making contact with the Russian forces. They ordered the local townspeople to bury the dead, and Steinfeld, being a German American, coordinated some of these activities with the mayor's office. After the war ended, he was assigned to the town of Boizenburg as military governor. One day, a woman approached him on the street and pointed out another man, who was Ludwig Ramdohr, one of the SS officers from Ravensbrück. The woman was a survivor of the camp, Margarete Buber-Neumann, a prominent member of the German Communist Party. Steinfeld helped her make contact with her daughters in Palestine and was later reunited with one of the daughters. He and his wife are the benefactors of the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
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, Jewish veterans--United States--Interviews, Veterans--United States--Interviews, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Holding Location
University of South Florida
Language
English
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
audio/mp3
Identifier
C65-00130
Recommended Citation
Steinfeld, Manfred, "Manfred Steinfeld oral history interview" (2008). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 115.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/115
Rights Statement
