We were only there probably six weeks, eight weeks at the most. But we did an awful lot of cleaning up, so to speak, while we were there. Now, the first time I saw any Holocaust [patients], they came into our hospital in truck beds. Some of them were almost ‘walking dead’; some of them were completely deceased, but there were others that seemed to have a little more strength.
Actually, when I went in there, I was a litter bearer; are you aware of what that is? Well, let me explain. The word ‘litter’ was an army word, but it’s kind of like a stretcher or whatever, you know, they transport the wounded on those things. Does that kind of ring a bell?
I guess the most prominent job I had while we were in the hospital was bringing those starved-to-death people from the truck to the hospital, and getting them set up. We had many of them taken off of those trucks who were already deceased, and we kept them on the litter and carried them out to a tent that had been set up for the deceased people who were on the train. Now, while I was [at the hospital], I did some blood pressure taking, took temperatures and that [sort of thing]. I saw what was going on. Our job was to get these people cleaned up, and then to bed them down, and start seeing what they needed—which you knew right off, they were all suffering from malnutrition. Many of them had really lost their mind, their way of thinking, being so hungry. But our doctors went right in and did the thing that all good doctors are supposed to do—they started giving them the type of nutrition they could have. And in a few days, a lot of them, they were just different people! They could think [again]. Now, after they had suffered this malnutrition, they were so weak, they got to the point where they could talk. I didn’t understand their language, and they didn’t understand my language, but we had a way of sign language. I had this one man in particular, who I remember, and after he got over his weakness and could sit up in the bed, he and I talked for quite a while—by sign language! And he showed me a picture that he had in his pocket—it was ragged, [but this] picture showed him as a man of stature, about 6 feet tall, probably 250 pounds, and when he came into our hospital, he weighed 87 pounds. So that was really an accomplishment, to see him come around and be able to talk to people like that.
Walter ‘Babe’ Gantz
Q. When you first saw the train, how did you feel?
When we left the 95th on detached service [to investigate the train, we went with] Captain Deutsch, who was one of the surgeons… He was numb. He didn’t say anything, just that we were ‘on a special assignment.’ That was the extent of it, until we got to Farsleben and we went down to the train itself. That was a nightmare… God Almighty! [Shakes head] Boy… [Pauses]… Unbelievable. That’s the only word I can think of, unbelievable…You know, you’re seeing these people in person, and yet you just couldn’t comprehend that these things happened in this world, that people would be so inhuman to other human beings. It was tough. You felt helpless, really.
[The initial scene] was chaotic. Most of the survivors were just wandering around, and you have to remember, these people, they were treated worse than animals. They were starved, and like I said, it was very chaotic. They were looting the homes and I can understand. They were getting fur coats and dresses. In fact, I remember there was one woman, I think she had three different dresses on. It was tough but … A lot of them were lice-infested. God, I’ve seen so many lice, unbelievable. You could grab quite a handful, really. A lot of these people we had to clip their hair. There were so many unsanitary conditions. These people were in rags. In most cases, we had to burn their clothes. Fortunately, we had a means of setting up showers. There was a nearby pond and we had generators because we were a sophisticated unit, as I said. We would give these people showers or wash them down.
How do you settle all these people? We’re talking like 2,400 people, and how do you feed them? That was one of the biggest problems we had, but fortunately, we found several ‘food dumps,’ as we called them, and we were fortunate in getting a lot. Actually, we took over a dairy farm, and we were provided with beef, and pork, and milk for those who could sustain milk. You have to remember a lot of these people couldn’t eat whole food, because if they did, if they were to gorge themselves, they would die. We had to feed them intravenously and that was one of my jobs. I have to say, I was a sharpshooter when it came to injections. It was difficult. We had so many.
Luca Furnari was a young New Yorker who served as the personal jeep driver for the company commander, Captain Hollander, a medical doctor.
Luca Furnari
We were only eleven miles away from the Elbe River, [so] it was a possibility that we would cross the river and go towards Berlin. We would not have been surprised if we got the order to ‘close the umbrella’ and follow the infantry forces right into Berlin. [Then] we were told that there was a train down by the Elbe River, and that we were going to jump in, and take care of the occupants. [The war] had taken on a whole new meaning; here was a trainload of Holocaust victims, right in our own ‘backyard,’ and they needed our help.
There were lots and lots of people; it was pandemonium, people looking to take care of themselves, for survival. It was overwhelming, it was difficult, and so we looked up to our commanding officers.
Walter ‘Babe’ Gantz
There were so many children! There must have been four or five hundred children. Infants! In fact, in doing research, there were several babies—one was like three months old. For some unknown reason, they would address us Americans as ‘sir.’ They were so polite—it was so embarrassing. Even the small kids, like, two, three, four years old! A lot of them were orphans. You have to remember they were orphans, really. We had some chocolate bars and things like that. The clothes were hanging on their bodies, really hanging on their bodies. They had smiles. I would imagine it was difficult for them to comprehend as to what was taking place, that they were free once again. A lot of orphans.
Grier Taylor
There were some very young children there. And some of them were really, really weak, but there was one little girl I remember; she was almost like a sun shining through a dark cloud. It was like I was in a dark mood; no one in the outfit could be smiling. Well, I know she was just so jolly and she was just a breath of fresh air in a dark moment. And that’s all I can remember about her.
Luca Furnari
There were a couple young children that came to our building. They were looking in the window watching us eat, and we decided to help them. So we went back to the chow line after the crews were fed for those leftovers, which were brought back, and we helped feed them. There was this girl named ‘Irene,’ she was a victim naturally. I [had been] taking care of her for about a week and decided to notify my wife that maybe we can adopt her, and my wife wrote back right away, she said, ‘Sure, do what you can,’ you know? We took care of her for four weeks, every day we fed her with the extra food from the chow line. She enjoyed the food that we gave; to see her eat the food was a blessing because we knew that she needed it badly.
Her mother came to visit me, so we tried to find a way to get her into a position where [my wife and I] could adopt her, but we had to get her out of there. So we emptied out my duffel bag one morning [near the time to ship out]; one of my buddies took care of all my personal possessions, and we tried to put her in the bag, but she was too tall! Her head was sticking out, and her mother was there, pushing her head in. I tried and tried again, but it was not working.
I have no recollection about what would have happened to me if I did bring her on the ship; I wonder what would have happened to me if I succeeded. I'm very sorry that I didn't. [I was drawn to her because] she was an innocent young child, a victim of this horrible philosophy that was rampant in Germany, and as an American-born [citizen] I couldn't believe that they were scheduled for cremation, for genocide! I could not believe it; that disturbed me. I live with that memory every day.
Grier Taylor
There were one or two people that I can remember so well, who could have a meal, and then go out to the garba
ge can and start eating out of the garbage can. We had to assign guards at the garbage cans; we had to keep the two or three [survivors] from digging in to get food scraps! Now, my only reason for telling you that is, because of the lack of food and the high malnutrition, I guess it had affected their minds. They didn’t realize they just had a meal, and then they try to go out and get more food.
Walter ‘Babe’ Gantz
Besides being malnourished, they had dysentery, diarrhea, so many different diseases, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, pneumonia, unbelievable. It was difficult. It’s amazing how I lived through all that. In fact, we were fortunate. We had an epidemiologist by the name of Captain William Porter. I remember him so well. I got to be friends with him. He detected quite a number of typhus people, individuals. In fact, if my memory serves me, 294 cases of typhus. We had to quarantine these people, and the end result was 45 passed away and about 70% of these people were already [over the] age of 50, really. Typhus is a so-called louse-borne disease from lice and things like that, rodents. These people, they would get a high fever, as high as 105 degrees. That’s really high.
I have to tell the story about Ariela. Ariela was only eleven years old and she came down with typhus. She told me she was in a semiconscious state of mind for about 10 days—these people could become delirious, and she told me that she attempted to jump out of the second-story window. Her aunt actually saved her life, but for those with typhus, that was difficult.
We had received different immunization shots. The uniform of the day would actually be a mask and gloves, and in many cases rubber aprons, and you’d ask yourself, why would you wear a rubber apron, but you have to remember, it became very messy.
Q. Is there any particular event or any particular thing that happened when you were at Hillersleben that really sticks in your mind?
We talk about nightmares and flashbacks. I never had any nightmares where I would scream, but there are two so-called flashbacks I remember and they stayed with me for many, many years. [In the first] I could see myself climbing these stairs, and all of a sudden, I’m inserting a needle into this elderly gentleman’s arm. Of course, you have to remember, they were skin and bones. The veins would roll and he was screaming, really screaming. That had to be very painful, because they were skin and bones—to try to find a vein; it was easy to overshoot a vein. It was heart-wrenching to hear those people sobbing and actually screaming because a lot of them thought they were still at Bergen–Belsen, really.
[In the second] incident, I used to work a twelve-hour shift, from eight in the evening to eight in the morning. In the wee hours of the morning, this young girl died. For some reason, I wrapped her up in a blanket and I carried her down the stairs and I was crying.
We had a war tent that was used as a makeshift morgue. I placed her in there. I wonder why I would do that; I must have liked her for some reason. I didn’t have to do that, because we had a team that took care of those who died, and placed them in the morgue.
I spent seven weeks with these people. Most of us spent seven weeks, and during our so-called watch, 106 people died… God, it was tough. [This girl] was actually fifteen years old. Her name was Eva, and you might say, ‘How was it possible that he could carry her?’ She probably weighed 60 pounds, maybe. I thought about that many times, and I must have been attracted to her for some reason. That haunted me, really. It really haunted me.
Grier Taylor
I do remember very vividly in my mind, when I get to thinking about it—the condition of those people and how they had been treated, for many, many years—well, I just tried to get it out of my mind, but all of a sudden I would start talking and crying. I would [go back] those 67 years and it’s still there, and I can still remember it.
Luca Furnari
I was able to help these little children, and I feel good about that. But we all had the same basic reaction—we couldn't believe that these people were destined [to be killed]. You know, what kind of a government would condone this? [Where was the] common sense? People condemn people—children, the parents, thousands of people! What the hell's going on here? It was crazy, we just couldn't fathom it, that there was no rationality. This is not normal, this is abnormal! [People say it] cannot happen here in this country; yes, it can happen here. I was twenty-one years old. I was there to see it happen.
Walter ‘Babe’ Gantz
After 70 years, I still get emotional. I try to control my emotions, but it’s impossible. I know I keep repeating the word, ‘helpless.’ It’s a good way to describe this situation, really. Yet as medics we did everything humanly possible to help; I would say without a question we saved a lot of lives. We really did save a lot of lives. [But being called a ‘hero’], that’s another thing. That’s very embarrassing. When you hear them saying ‘heroes,’ we medics weren’t considered heroes, but I guess we were the unsung heroes. It’s a long time ago, over 70 years [pauses]. It’s a lifetime. Sadly, in time, your memories become dimmed. But you just can’t [shakes head, pauses]—but there are certain events that will stay with a person all of their lifetime.[*]
*
Walter wrote to me several times over the years. He closed one letter with the following:
Some of 'the boys' couldn't take this type of duty and had to be sent back to our headquarters…My parents never knew of Hillersleben; the 95th held more than 40 reunions and barely a word was mentioned concerning Hillersleben. Matt, I wish you well in all your endeavors. God's blessings to you and yours.
As ever,
Walt (Babe) Gantz
Member, 95th Medical Bn.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Orphan
Hello, Matthew,
My name is Lily Cohen and I was a little girl who was on that train coming from Bergen–Belsen. My name was Lili Kazimierski-Shein and I was an orphan, probably about five or six years old at that time. I don’t know my birth day, or year.
I am so moved to find this research, as most of my early life appeared to be ‘erased’ somehow by the Holocaust, and only now am I able to take small steps into what was my past to piece together fragments of memories. I remember the train. I remember the hill, I remember a German soldier running away, and I remember a woman who was trying to take care of me, dying at my side.
How did I hear of you? Varda called me last evening, having found my name in a book by Hilda Huppert called Hand in Hand with Tommy.[*] Since it only mentioned my first name and the kibbutz where I was raised, she called the kibbutz! Amazing how things can come together when there are people dedicated to finding out ‘the rest of the story.’ Thank you for your dedication.
My life has turned into a really wonderful victory over Hitler’s attempt to obliterate the Jewish people. Tonight I made dinner for 10 people in my home in Tel Aviv – six of whom came from me… You are really doing a holy work and I do hope to meet you some day.
Lily and I did meet, on several occasions. She came over to the United States, and with her friend Lynda she drove the four hours north from New York City to have dinner with my wife and me. Later, I arranged an interview for her at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and they had done their homework, having researched her actual date of birth. I visited Lily in Israel in 2011, and again in 2016. Like many of the survivors I know liberated on the train, Lily speaks to students. Still youthful and vivacious, she defies their mental stereotype of ‘Holocaust survivor.’ We had lunch, and she told me of her latest encounter with at-risk teens at a teen center in Jaffa outside of Tel Aviv. Before her presentation, they had self-segregated by group—Israeli-Ethiopian teens, Israeli-Russian teens, Jewish and Arab teens. And here she was, a survivor of the Holocaust, and a survivor of the War for Independence as a preteen in 1948-49, when her adoptive kibbutz came under attack. She measured them up, and spoke directly to their own experiences with alienation from larger society.
Maybe you are feeling like an outsider in a world that seems hostile, but you do not have to be a victim. I did not look like
the rest of the children—I was blonde and blue-eyed. I did not want to play piano as a youngster; I wanted to dance. I did not know my parents; I did not know my past. But I made my way, became a professional dancer, and built a strong family. Maybe you can make your way, too.
A forty-five-minute talk turned into over two hours from the heart of Lily Cohen, World War II orphan, Holocaust survivor, stage dancer and choreographer, therapist, and Tai Chi master. From out of the ashes, new life begins; the kids hung on her every word as they accompanied Lily out to her car in the parking lot. Maybe here by the sea in the ancient port of Jaffa, a cool night breeze also blew in a new outlook on life.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Denial
It comes with the territory.
You’re an emotion [sic] and propaganda-susceptible gullible fool.
You’re ‘teaching history’ and not going into the fraudulently alleged homicidal gas chambers? Or do you subconsciously already know it’s bullshit?
There were NO fake shower rooms disguised as gas chambers.
That’s a racist anti-German blood libel. Shame on you. The Bath and Disinfection 1 facility was just that!
*
There were no ‘gas chambers’ other than delousing facilities to keep the prisoners healthy. Allied bombing causes [sic] disease and starvation because the camps could no longer be supplied by Germany.
A Train Near Magdeburg Page 30
