Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project

Interviewee

Nathan Melman

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Interviewer

Michael Hirsh

Publication Date

March 2022

Date

November 2008

Abstract

Nathan Melman was a member of the 14th Armored Division, which liberated Ampfing, Mühldorf, and other Dachau sub-camps, as well as Stalag VII A, a large prisoner of war camp near Moosburg. His unit discovered Ampfing while on reconnaissance. When they drove into the camp and saw the starving prisoners, who had neither food nor water, their major had them throw rations into the crowd, which nearly caused a riot. Melman walked around the camp and spoke to several prisoners, one of whom knew his mother's family in Czechoslovakia. He also saw a mass grave containing about 2,000 bodies, and took a picture of it; he also photographed some of the inmates. Melman was at Ampfing overnight and never went to Mühldorf or Stalag VII A. In this interview, he also reads some passages from a book written by Holocaust survivor Coenraad Rood, who was a prisoner at Ampfing when it was liberated.

Keywords

World War II (1939-1945), Holocaust (1939-1945), Concentration camps, Concentration camps--Liberation, Jewish veterans, Veterans, Genocide, Crimes against humanity, United States. Army. Armored Division 14th, Ampfing (Concentration camp), Mühldorf (Concentration camp), Stalag VII A, Prisoners of war

Extent

00:58:32; 31 page transcript

Subject: geographic

Ampfing (Germany); Mühldorf (Germany); Moosburg an der Isar (Germany)

Language

English

Digital Date

2022

Media Type

Oral histories

Format

Digital Only

Identifier

C65-00089

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Rights Statement

In Copyright