Ellsworth R. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Ellsworth R., who was born in New Haven, Connecticut in approximately 1924. He recalls military draft in 1943; assignment to the 26th Infantry Division; landing in England; combat in France; large numbers of casualties and injuries; an attack by Hitler Youth in Alsace; fighting in partnership with French Moroccan troops; encountering French and Belgian forced laborers in a work camp; coming upon SS troops shooting into a burning barrack which they later learned was occupied by Romanies; taking no prisoners after that episode; finding a train full of Jewish prisoners, one third of them dead, whose physical condition was beyond his belief; realizing the enormity of the German atrocities; a brief experience in a concentration camp; a final assignment in Austria searching for SS; and his division finding Hermann Göring. Mr. R. discusses lack of preparation for encountering the camps and prisoners; discomfort with the word "liberator," calling themselves "stumblers" since they merely stumbled upon the camps; and vivid memories of the train, particularly the smell.

1 videocassette