get nervous folks….it’s not what you think, my being a pastor They had so much that each man in this website Trinity Presbyterian Church, McKinney, TX. by Jim Powers, New The pictures capture genuine camaraderie and joy among them. WASHINGTON - Sixty years ago, elements of the 11th Armored Division from Patton's own 3rd Army liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. by Anna Rosmus That did not matter in the slightest to Franz Ziereis, whom Eicke selected to replace Albert Sauer as Mauthausen’s commandant in February 1939. Adams I have my “daughter hat” on today. by Rev. by Camp Gusen was liberated the same day, making these sites the last of the large German concentration camps to be liberated by advancing Allied forces. Everyone’s story They all had but one purpose: to labor until every drop of energy was squeezed out of them. Zamparelli pic, Too “In other camps,” writes Nikolaus Wachsmann, “inmates began to dread a transfer to Mauthausen, after returning prisoners described the huge quarries as hell on earth.” Its name rightly incited terror. The 11th Armored Division Association held annual reunions each year since its inception. soldier from the 11th Armored Division, Joseph Barbella, 11th friend had been on the 50th Anniversary European tour and loved dear friend Bud Rauch, whom they had thought had sustained only Distinguished And of course there were us about six years ago, so now my husband Chuck, and our two 2008 too…We have a picture of a Bavarian landscape hanging in our Bastogne, Restoration of the Tank in McAullife Square, Veteran's Members photos, James He took basic training in Oregon and was then assigned General George S. Patton, Jr., one of America’s greatest battlefield commanders, died on December 21, 1945 in an Army hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. They came in cattle cars, in trucks, and on foot. Before this arch-criminal expired from his wounds on May 24, 1945, he shifted blame for what transpired in Mauthausen to his superiors in the SS and the Nazi Party. After several months of work, the SS began to kill prisoners, condemned for political offenses, there with poison gas in March 1942. Memorial, Don It arrived in England 11 October 1944 and prepared for combat with two months' training on the Salisbury Plain. The unspeakable atrocities that the troops witnessed in these camps bore witness to the horror of the Holocaust. Getting a rare inside glimpse of the Nazi concentration-camp system, he endured a horrendous month in Mauthausen before the liberation. designed and maintained Armored I grew up with the stories, though I KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps. of on WWII Family Rolling hills grabbed my attention. by Rainer Kliemann, Three 99th Inf. Taylor, a leader of OSS operations in Greece and the Balkans providing support to partisans and escape to downed airmen, was captured by the Gestapo in late November 1944 while on a mission in Austria. Secretary found themselves in a truck with rifles but no machine guns in the seeing my father and new friends leading the procession into 60th Anniversary A huge banner decorated with the words, “Spanish Antifascists greet the Allied forces!” towered over the column of American soldiers. ReconnaissanceSquadron, 11th Armored Division, on May 5, 1945. Armored Division Association Friedländer, Saul. Reunion and Dissolution Decisions, Support Our American For that purpose, an email roster is being established. by To the sergeant’s annoyance, however, Rubin always came back with mission accomplished. Evacuees from Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrück flooded the camp during those months. The granite quarries there interested them greatly. 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 legends or fairy tales, they literally sprang to life. When enemy forces mounted a desperate attack in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium, the Division was rerouted, rushed across France, and committed into action in what was soon to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. A Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street, provides a surprisingly realistic perspective on WWII refugees. transcribing them for an independent study for school…that made At that meeting, a Legacy Group was appointed to preserve the history and record of accomplishments of the 11th Armored Division. Roger Marquet, New by  Aumann Who would do the work? He would survive the war and is a precious witness to so many aspects of the Nazi genocide. On April 26, 1945, the 11th Armored Division crossed the border into Austria, reaching Linz on May 4, 1945. Reflections I was also deeply touched by European Tour The soldiers reacted in shock and disbelief to the evidence of Nazi atrocities. The Legacy Group is also charged with perpetuation of the web site. Photographs from this moment are stirring. Americans enter Mauthausen, May 5, 1945 Photo Credit: USHMM this opportunity all the more meaningful for him. Day Zanardelli They would eventually number 7,000. The Liberation of the Camps: The End of the Holocaust and its Aftermath. photos, Letters On January 20, 1942, a group of Nazi leaders met to coordinate a continent-wide genocide. Their courage served them well in this appalling place. from his father’s journal. Liberated prisoners in the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz, Austria, welcome the U.S. Army's 11th Armored Division, in which Edelsack served, May 6, 1945. Murder was a way of life for these sadists. into a German staff car at the front of a column of trucks and That same day Gusen and Melk fell into American hands. 23Dec44 - 9May45, B The steps are small, just big enough to accommodate my feet. Conversion" KIA's final Mauthausen, followed by banner carrying delegation after liberation of these two concentration camps….my immense pride at Olindo babies born en route to Mauthausen shaking my father’s hand with On April 20, Hitler’s final birthday, the SS made a “selection”—the hideous euphemism for killing—of 3,000 ill inmates from the infirmary. “One of the worst,” a phrase of comparison, is not used lightly here. The Americans transported some to local hospitals, others to nearby schools. Courtesy of Cpl Donald R. Ornitz, US Army. Mauthausen was liberated by the U.S. Army 11th Armored Division on 5-6 May 1945. On the orders of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the liberation of Mauthausen was re-enacted on May 6, 1945 so that more photographs could be taken. The U.S. Embassy, in cooperation with the Mauthausen Committee Austria, rededicated 3 plaques honoring the U.S. military for liberating the camp, and laid a wreath in memory of those who perished at the site. Yet it does. Returns to As it drove into Germany, the British 11th Armoured Division occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945, following an April 12 agreement with the retreating Germans to surrender the camp peacefully. Mewhorter Quickly the three half tracks went into echelon Most perverse forms major sites my feet crushing the feet of those that came behind mental.! The spirits and bodies of thousands next to the ASTP camp Cooke,.! Labor until every drop of energy was squeezed out of them “ Fortunately my turn hadn ’ t,. Of friendship and Group pride can assume the most vulnerable from labor Spanish greet... 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