Recapping briefly the experiences of Peter Zuckerman, he was in Camp Vaihingen (just south of Stuttgart) where the Germans were attempting to build an underground factory for building jet air planes. Life in this labor camp generally resulted in death as perhaps 1600 prisoners died here. Peter was helped by being assigned to work in the kitchen and on the farm of a German civilian, two situations that resulted in some extra food. A typhus epidemic raged in the camp and Peter caught it. The nearest thing to an infirmary was a set of beds at one end of the hangar which was their housing. The typhus caused red spots over the body, fever, delirium, and lost of consciousness. For several days he lay here in an unconscious state. During this time the sound of distant explosions could be heard.
One morning Peter woke up with a clear head and the fever greatly reduced. Not only was this a surprise to him, but during the night the Germans had left, leaving the sick prisoners behind. Peter realized that he was alive and free! This was April 7, 1945. Peter dressed, ate some bread that he had been keeping, and walked through the open gates of the camp. He wanted to walk to the nearby village and especially he wanted to thank the German lady whose efforts on his behalf had probably been his salvation.
Peter met Arab soldiers in the French army and an American officer who was on liaison duty with the French. He spoke German and was a Jew from Texas. Peter was very confused, how could there be a Jewish cowboy? Establishing order was an effort, as many of the prisoners wanted to beat up the German civilians who had been their overseers. The American put a stop to this, and said that the prisoners were not to sink to the level of the Nazi criminals.
To provide some care for the prisoners, many of whom were typhus victims, the French designated the village of Neuenbuerg as a sanitary site and evicted the residents. Then the prisoners were moved in, April 11, and some care was provided for them. Though Peter thought he was on the road to recovery, he too was included in this transfer. But many of them died as they were past the point of recovery. The dead were buried in the village cemetery used for the Catholic residents.
After this, Peter was moved from camp to camp, sometimes under the Americans and sometimes under the UNRRA. There was no school for him because of his Hungarian background but he made an effort to learn German. He met some friendly and civilized Germans in and around Heidelberg. Finally, in January of 1947, almost two years after his liberation, he was given the chance of going to America which he welcomed. (Here he went to high school in Philadelphia and was a member of their chess team which won the Pennsylvania championship.)
All of this history came to my attention because I was puzzled by the Jewish gravestones in Neuenbuerg, the village in Germany where the Blankenbuehlers lived in 1717. Two people have helped me in understanding this mystery, one a resident who was evicted and one who was a refugee there for a few months.
(09 Oct 06)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.