Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Hirsh, Michael
Publication Date
July 2008
Abstract
This is an oral history interview with Holocaust concentration camp liberator Warren Emerson Priest. Priest was a surgical technician with the 120th Evacuation Hospital, which was one of the units sent to Buchenwald after it was liberated on April 12, 1945. They bivouacked at Ettersburg, the town nearest the camp, and started to smell burning flesh and decaying corpses. Priest decided to walk to the camp that night and went inside to the central plaza, where he saw a body, possibly that of a guard, that had been beaten to death. The 120th Evac spent two weeks at Buchenwald where one of Priest's jobs was to determine if people were still alive by listening for heartbeats. On one occasion, a little girl died in his arms while he was taking her to the aid station. On April 29, they were dispatched to Dachau, but Priest did not work at that camp, having caught typhus at Buchenwald. Priest runs a website, "Buchenwald and Beyond," about the 120th Evac and their work at the camp. Interviews conducted on July 18, 2008 and November 29, 2008.
Keywords
Concentration camps--History--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation, World War, 1939-1945--Hospitals--Germany, World War, 1939-1945--Medical care, World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities, World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American, World War, 1939-1945--Veterans--United States, Veterans--United States--Interviews, Genocide, Crimes against humanity
Holding Location
University of South Florida
Language
English
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
audio/mp3
Identifier
C65-00109
Recommended Citation
Priest, Warren E., "Warren Emerson Priest oral history interview" (2008). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 97.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/97