The Liberation of Kaufering
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- On April 27, 1945, the 12th Armored Division reached Kaufering IV. The 101st Airborne Division arrived the next day, with the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and 36th Infantry Division arriving on April 30. The liberators found this Bavarian camp in one of the worst conditions of the Dachau subcamps.
This video is part of an ongoing series commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II made possible by Bank of America.
My Dad also liberated Kaufering, but he was with the 103rd Infantry Division. There’s actually a small memorial to the 103rd at the existing Kaufering camp. In 2022 I was able to travel there, and walk among the camp.
do you know what regiment and company? My grandfather was 103rd Infantry Division, 410th regiment, Company L. He was a squad leader, not sure what platoon. Dale H. Buckmaster. I’ve been trying to find all the info I can. He apparently didn’t say a word about his time after he got back so we don’t have a lot to work off of. Just his papers and research.
My father was in the 101st. His tour started in North Africa, then went on to Sicily then he jumped at D-Day. He then went on to the battle of the bulge. His rank was Sargent, and he was assigned as a scout. In the end, he then went on to liberate a POW camp. I am thinking Kaufering may have been it. He didn't talk about the war. I didn't find all of this out till a few years ago. I now have his five bronze medals and the "NUTS" plaque from Bastogne. I went to Bastogne a couple of years ago. They were constructing a new museum. All this is interesting but also sad to think about what these men went through. I have had a tough time finding information due to the fire in Kansas City (1970's) at the records facility. I am very appreciative of this video about this moment of history. It helps me understand why my father was the way he was all through my childhood. My friend thought it was strange how strict he was. I told them he knew how to kill people from the war. At almost 70, I am just now finding out who he really was and what he must have gone through. His scars were deep.
With your father having been in the 101st Airborne, I'm guessing you've probably watched or read Band of Brothers? Although it focuses on E company of the 2nd Bt. 506th parachute inf. regiment and not necessarily your father's specific unit (unless he was in that unit), you should still check that out. In the book/miniseries, the liberation of Kaufering IV is depicted. Really heartbreaking. But your father and his fellow soldiers were heroes for what they endured and accomplished. I can't imagine the scars that would leave on a man. If you don't mind me asking, about how old was he during the war? Somewhere between 20-24 maybe? Such horrible things to go through and see as such a young man, or anyone at all for that matter.
Four great books about the 101st. by one of the airborne - Donald Burgett. Curahea, 7 roads to hell, beyond the Rhine, road to arnhem. I met him once in Detroit.
My grandfather was deported to Auschwitz along with his whole family at the age of 16. His mother was murdered there and he was transferred to Kaufering IV with his 2 brothers and his cousin. My grandfather was the only survivor. He never forgot the horrors that he experienced there.
My Grandpa was in the 12th, 714th Tank Battalion. He only spoke of the camps a few times with me and his stories have never left me, I can't imagine actually being there. Some of the things he told me about I recently found pictures of in a book entitled "From Bloody Herrlisheim to a Slave Labor Camp" by James E. Muschell, the images of the camps were taken by Robert J. Hartwig. I don't believe the clips in the video presented here are from the Kaufring camps, however I could be wrong, if somebody can verify that they are I would greatly appreciate more info on them. There is frustratingly little that I can find about the camps in the area of Landsberg.
Here are the links to an online version of the book, as well as a link to an interview with Robert J. Hartwig.
From Bloody Herrlisheim to a Slave Labor Camp
www.12tharmoredmuseum.com/view_books.asp?book=49&folder=bh&book_title=From%20Bloody%20Herrlisheim%20To%20a%20Slave%20Labor%20Camp
Robert J. Hartwig
vhaonline.usc.edu/viewingPage?testimonyID=59365&returnIndex=0
I met Donald Burgett in Detroit once. He was in the 101st and wrote four books. His book beyond the Rhine describes his experience in Landsberg. From his own photos he has one of four nuns within the camp after it was discovered
The nuns came along with other civilians from the town of Landsberg who had been ordered by Colonel Edward Seiller of the 12th Armored Division to bury the dead at Kaufering IV. A short film, also ordered by Colonel Seiller, is available for viewing: ua-cam.com/video/NS02Cq3Lifc/v-deo.html
@@iammanofnature7227 Thank you for the info!! I’ll check out the video. I want to reread beyond the Rhine it’s been 10 years since I read it. Especially after seeing band of brothers. Burgett passed away in 2017. Always wanted to see if I could get a signed copy of his book.
Where does one obtain a roster of 101st Airborne soldiers during WWII?
Some years back, I read somewhere that those records were lost in a big Army storage building fire sometime in the 1970's. Has anyone learned more about this?
@@matta.5363 That's what my father said about his dad, who was in the navy. But 2 years ago we requested records from the National Archives and they were able to send us something. Cleared up some old family myths that had been spread. Have to make a request from them and they may limit what you can get depending on relation.
My father was liberated from Kaufering on April 27 1945.
Is he still around? My great great uncle Jim was one of the liberators from the 101st, and he’s still around and in good mental and physical health (though very, very old). I wish they could meet...
@@1234jajadingdong He is still alive and at home in Toronto.
@@elcom362 if you come to Washington state with hiM by some miracle let me know and we could arrange a meeting. Uncle Jim doesn’t travel much, he lives like a hermit (though he’s very kind and friendly).
@@elcom362 oh and do an NPR Storycorps interview with him! I did one with my uncle. You can download the app from the App Store, it’s easy and free.
My dad, Emery "Cameron" Applegate, was a paratrooper with the 101st. When I was a boy, he would tell me about D-Day, Bastogne and about liberating Kaufering and of the horrible sites he saw. I'm 67 now and Dad passed on several years ago in Oregon. I am continually amazed that he did so many brave and dangerous things during that war, and that he had just turned 18-years-old at the time.
5:00 How do we know they were burned alive?
Брат моего дедушки был заключённым этого лагеря,29 апреля 1945 года его освободила американская армия,он умер в 1975 году.
and here we go again...even you guys at the ww2 museum mess up this part...the 10th armored was at Bastogne and at the liberation of this camp
I know why that unit is always overlooked by fast page flipping 'historians' because it was a 'Ghost' unit that NEVER had its markings on it...so that it could fill in and fake out the Germans on how many they were fighting.
Only the "band of brothers' TV show gets this right...a TV show beats 'historians' at their jobs once again.
ohh and yes I have a personal dog in this fight for proper credit, the 10th ARMORED was my grandfather's unit and he got stuck IN bastogne with the 101st and as he said 'airborne units don't stop SS tank units...they get run over by them, so that proves there was armor and artillery IN that town...ME and my unit!'
and as for the camp, I was told that gen Patton when he saw the camp barffed! Just think about that what would make a man who had seen that much death in life throw up...it was that bad
Now how does one distinguish between what is propaganda and what is fact
I come from kaufering
Good reflection about the Second a World War.
Talk about Rheinwiesenlager.!
A question for you... This US Army book about the 12th Armored in WWII ( core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234781185.pdf ) makes zero mention of the five concentration camp subcamps it liberated. In fact, it doesn't mention concentration camps at all. It has two gruesome pictures of corpses at a concentration camp on p. 71, but the caption speaks only of a "prison camp" (I surmise it was a concentration camp from the uniforms on the victims' corpses). What was the motivation for the US Army, and the US government more generally, to suppress the very existence of the Holocaust in its official publications in the late 40s?
Kirk Minihane should interrogate this POG