Hi all, my name is David Cohen. I'm 17 and a senior in high school. I've been fascinated in WWII/Holocaust Studies since I was 8 or so. My collection of 87+ or so WWII/Holocaust books has gown larger than my bookcase. One of the reasons why I am interested in WWII is that my grandfather and his family went through the Holocaust and he lost most of his family, only him all his brothers (which is very rare) and a few others survived. It's always been a dream of mine to find the solders who found my grandfather and thank them for saving my life.
David, glad you could make in the forum, in spite of the hurdles we had to jump. I wish you success in your desire to find the men who liberated your family. What camps were they in?
Buchenwald or Buchenwald subcamp Kaunitz 73. I have not been able to find any information about Kaunitz 73 at all. That means that he was most likely liberated by one of the following divisions but the only thing he said about him being liberated was that they were on the train tracks in boxcars when they heard shouting and shooting. He passed away before I was born and he never really told me mom about it. That was one of the few things he said about what he went through. Possible Divisions: 2nd Infantry 63rd Infantry 80th Infantry 83rd Infantry 89th Infantry 4th Armored 6th Armored 8th Armored But like I said, he didn't really talk about it
Welcome to the forum David. I'm not finding a Buchenwald sub-camp called Kaunitz. There are nearly 80 of these sub-camps listed, and, since I don't speak German, I don't know if I should check another name. Try giving us any other information you have and we'll do our best to help you out.
Last year I contacted the International Tracing Service who have a ton of Holocaust documents and I got back a lot. One of the things I got said that he was confined to Buchenwald on January 17th 1945 then it says transferred to Buchenwald/Commando Witten-Annen on February 6th 1945. I just did some digging and it appears that Commando Witten-Annen was a sub camp of Nordhausen which for a while was a sub camp of Buchenwald. Most of the stuff I have is all in German. I am thinking on scanning the documents and uploading them and see if anyone can translate them
Hello David, As you can see, there are many helpful folk here. I am sure you will gain great knowledge about your family's history. I wish you good fortune! Cheers!
Here's some further info: Mittelbau Dora Concentration Camp (looks like the 104th Infantry liberated Nordhausen) Dora - Mittlebau/Nordhausen Concentration Camp http://www.HolocaustResearchProject.org (site talks about prisoners transferred from Buchenwald, also contains links you can follow) There are many other sites you can check.
Thanks. I have already looked at those sites. I know a lot about the Holocaust and I plan on getting my Master's Degree in Holocaust/Genocide Studies. I want to teach or work at the Holocaust Museum in DC
Welcome. Are you planning to enroll at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, by any chance? Greg C.
Yes I am. It's an hour away from me and they are one of two in the nation that offer a Masters in Holocaust/Genocide Studies. I might apply this year or I am going to go to my community college for two years, get the basic classes out of the way and get an Associates in Homeland Security before transferring over to Stockton.
My grandfather was at Nordhausen in June 45 as the transition from US to Soviets was taking place. (He was a Russian Translator) I have about 15 pictures from the camp.
