Sent: Sat 9/15/2007 3:06 PM
To: Rozell Matt
Subject: More Memories
To: Rozell Matt
Subject: More Memories
I saw the story about your research on the CNN website and thought I'd add a part of my family's immediate history.
My mother is from Linz, Austria. WhenHitler invaded that country early in the war she actually watched him make a speech in the town square. How many people can say they actually saw and heard Hitler? She was required to serve so many months working between the country and the city.
My father was from Warsaw, Poland. He engaged in underground resistance activities, was caught, and sent to Mauthausen where he spent most of the war. There's a website that has an account of the officer who liberated Mauthausen and what they saw there - I dont' remember his name, but if you put "Mauthausen" in Google it'll come up.
My father was not Jewish. I think one of the things people don't realize that the camps did not specifically target only Jews. There were many, many other people that became victims of the Nazis.
Every so often the commandant of the camp would inspect the prisoners to determined which ones were too ill to keep working and would send those for extermination. My father, who had pleurisy, had made friends with the Polish go-between of the prisoners and the commandant. The commandant stood before my father and asked the liaison what was wrong with him. The liason minimized my father's condition by saying it was nothing that a little rest wouldn't cure. The commandant stood before my father, hitting his tall boots with his crop, deciding what to do with him - the longest seconds in my father's life, and of course a turning point for my entire family history.
When Mauthausen was liberated the prisoners swarmed into Linz (where my mother met my father). Some of the prisoners were so starved and in such bad shape that they ate too much and died. My mother said she was walking somewhere (she was sixteen at the time) and a bloody man lying on the ground begged her for help. She had no way of knowing what side he was on or who he was, and so she kept going. I often wonder how things would have changed for him had she stopped and sought help.
My father did and didn't survive the camp. He came through physically, but his mind was wrecked. He became an alcoholic and was terribly abusive - only so far can one excuse his behavior because of the camp - after all, many survivors made good on their lives following the camp.
My mother still lives in Colorado.
I hope you get something out of this incredible story; as a 1st generation American the war affected my life very deeply.
Linda Waters
Woodville, TX
My mother is from Linz, Austria. WhenHitler invaded that country early in the war she actually watched him make a speech in the town square. How many people can say they actually saw and heard Hitler? She was required to serve so many months working between the country and the city.
My father was from Warsaw, Poland. He engaged in underground resistance activities, was caught, and sent to Mauthausen where he spent most of the war. There's a website that has an account of the officer who liberated Mauthausen and what they saw there - I dont' remember his name, but if you put "Mauthausen" in Google it'll come up.
My father was not Jewish. I think one of the things people don't realize that the camps did not specifically target only Jews. There were many, many other people that became victims of the Nazis.
Every so often the commandant of the camp would inspect the prisoners to determined which ones were too ill to keep working and would send those for extermination. My father, who had pleurisy, had made friends with the Polish go-between of the prisoners and the commandant. The commandant stood before my father and asked the liaison what was wrong with him. The liason minimized my father's condition by saying it was nothing that a little rest wouldn't cure. The commandant stood before my father, hitting his tall boots with his crop, deciding what to do with him - the longest seconds in my father's life, and of course a turning point for my entire family history.
When Mauthausen was liberated the prisoners swarmed into Linz (where my mother met my father). Some of the prisoners were so starved and in such bad shape that they ate too much and died. My mother said she was walking somewhere (she was sixteen at the time) and a bloody man lying on the ground begged her for help. She had no way of knowing what side he was on or who he was, and so she kept going. I often wonder how things would have changed for him had she stopped and sought help.
My father did and didn't survive the camp. He came through physically, but his mind was wrecked. He became an alcoholic and was terribly abusive - only so far can one excuse his behavior because of the camp - after all, many survivors made good on their lives following the camp.
My mother still lives in Colorado.
I hope you get something out of this incredible story; as a 1st generation American the war affected my life very deeply.
Linda Waters
Woodville, TX
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