Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Michael Hirsh
Publication Date
March 2022
Date
March 2008
Abstract
Melvin H. Rappaport was a captain and the liaison to corps headquarters in the 6th Armored Division, which liberated Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. A day or so later, he and a friend heard rumors about the camp and went to see it. Rappaport went through the camp, going inside the crematorium building and seeing the barracks and the Kleine Lager, the "little camp" where most of the Jewish prisoners were kept. He met an English-speaking Polish man, who told him about the camp. Rappaport was in Buchenwald for less than two hours, but it had a profound effect on him, and he is unable to forget what he saw there. In this interview, he also recounts his experiences in the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. Interviews conducted on April 19, 2008 and May 12, 2008.
Keywords
World War II (1939-1945), Holocaust (1939-1945), Battle of the Ardennes (1944-1945), Concentration camps, Concentration camps--Liberation, Jewish veterans, Veterans, Genocide, Crimes against humanity, United States. Army. Armored Division 6th, Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Extent
01:58:01; 76 page transcript
Subject: geographic
Weimar (Germany); Normandy (France); Ardennes
Language
English
Digital Date
2022
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
Digital Only
Identifier
C65-00110
Recommended Citation
Rappaport, Melvin H., "Melvin H. Rappaport Oral History Interview" (2022). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 98.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/98
Rights Statement
