Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
Loading...
Interviewer
Michael Hirsh
Publication Date
March 2022
Date
June 2008
Abstract
Leonard S. Parker was a sergeant in the 45th Infantry Division, which liberated Dachau on April 29, 1945. When his unit approached the camp, the gate was open and the prisoners were coming out. The soldiers gave them chocolates, and Parker, who had been a boy cantor, sang Yiddish songs to them. Parker went into the barracks and the crematorium and walked alongside the camp's death train. Several of the soldiers from his platoon killed some of the German guards, and Parker was unable to stop them. Parker's division stayed in Dachau for several hours until the Red Cross arrived and slept outside the camp that night. In this interview, Parker also describes a battle at Aschaffenburg where he earned the Silver Star for his actions.
Keywords
World War II (1939-1945), Holocaust (1939-1945), Concentration camps, Concentration camps--Liberation, Jewish veterans, Veterans, Genocide, Crimes against humanity, United States. Army. Infantry Division 45th, Dachau (Concentration camp), International Committee of the Red Cross
Extent
00:37:15; 27 page transcript
Subject: geographic
Dachau (Germany); Aschaffenburg (Germany)
Language
English
Digital Date
2022
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
Digital Only
Identifier
C65-00100
Recommended Citation
Parker, Leonard Sam, "Leonard Sam Parker Oral History Interview" (2022). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 88.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/88
Rights Statement
