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 Edmund S. Motzko. Motzko was in an anti-aircraft artillery battalion attached to the 102nd Infantry Division, which discovered the Gardelegen Massacre in Gardelegen, Germany. On April 13, 1945, 1,100 Jewish prisoners were corralled in a barn, which was then set on fire. The 102nd arrived on the scene a day or two later; when Motzko got there, two piles of bodies were still smoldering near the barn door. Motzko was assigned to guard the survivors, one of whom, Geza Bondi, served as his translator. The townspeople from Gardelegen were brought in to bury the bodies, and the 102nd stayed there until after the war ended. Motzko took several photographs of the massacre site which are in Holocaust museums in the United States and Germany.
Keywords
Gardelegen Massacre, Gardelegen, Germany, 1945, Massacres--Germany--Personal narratives, World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities, World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American, World War, 1939-1945--Veterans, Veterans--United States--Interviews, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Holding Location
University of South Florida
Language
English
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
audio/mp3
Identifier
C65-00091
Recommended Citation
Motzko, Edmund S., "Edmund S. Motzko oral history interview" (2008). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 79.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/79
Rights Statement
