Holocaust Testimony of Harry Snyder

Résumé du livre

Harry Snyder served in Africa and Europe as a U.S. Army Quartermaster officer in the 45th Infantry, beginning in May, 1943. He arrived at Dachau concentration camp in April 1945, the day after his division captured the camp from German troops. He relates that American soldiers, infuriated by the sight of the dead and the dying prisoners, had killed German guards, refusing offers of surrender. While on detached service with the American military government, Mr. Snyder commanded two displaced persons camps. He was responsible for 18,000 former slave laborers and prisoners of war (POW) at Kaiserlautern and for 7000 others at the Telefunken Kaserne in Munich. These were East European survivors, mostly from Russia and Poland. Within each nationality group, the highest-ranking POW was chosen to supervise his countrymen. Mr. Snyder's knowledge of Yiddish helped him communicate with local Germans and camp inmates. With no U.S. Army supplies available, he had to threaten local mayors to provide bread and he confiscated food and clothing from underground German warehouses. He left Europe in Sept. 1945.