Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Michael Hirsh
Publication Date
March 2022
Date
September 2008
Abstract
Eli Heimberg was an assistant chaplain in the 42nd Infantry Division, which liberated Dachau on April 29, 1945. He and chaplain Rabbi Eli Bohnen heard about the camp several hours after it was first discovered and decided to go there. Upon arriving, they asked where the Jewish prisoners were and spent a couple of hours with a group of about twenty-five Polish Jews. Many of them had relatives in America, and Heimberg and Bohnen took their names and contact information. Rabbi Bohnen also recited the Prayer for the Dead before they left. In this interview, Heimberg, who is Jewish, describes his reactions to the camp and how it affected his sense of identity as a Jew.
Keywords
World War II (1939-1945), Holocaust (1939-1945), Concentration camps, Concentration camps--Liberation, Chaplains, Veterans, Jewish veterans, Genocide, Crimes against humanity, United States. Army. Infantry Division 42nd, Dachau (Concentration camp)
Extent
00:37:09; 20 page transcript
Subject: geographic
Dachau (Germany)
Language
English
Digital Date
2022
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
Digital Only
Identifier
C65-00056
Recommended Citation
Heimberg, Eli, "Eli Heimberg Oral History Interview" (2022). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 46.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/46
Rights Statement
