Editor’s note: This letter is a typed reproduction of a letter from Sid Jacobson, an American liberator of WWII. Sid was related to the Froomkin family, a longtime local family. Recently, one of his letters home from the war front in Germany at the end of World War II was discovered. In that letter, he shares what he witnessed in those final days of the war. It’s printed here with permission of his family.
April 30, 1945
Germany
Dearest Mom and Bernice,
I hope you two are fine. Everything with me is okay.
I am going to tell you a little story of what I, and the rest of the troop, saw yesterday. After you read it, you might pass it on to others so that they might know what kind of people we’re fighting.
It will be hard to believe but I and many others have seen it in the real. Many of us took pictures of it. I myself took almost 75 different shots.
Yesterday morning about 9:00 we rode to the top of the hill which ran into a wood. While riding up we saw the German civilians carrying wooden box coffins. Two people in front and two people in the rear. Altogether there were 184 coffins and four civilians to a box. There were many girls, women, old women, and old men. Also there were many children. You could see them walking for a mile and a half to the top.
To get to the point, the American military government found out that there were refugees buried in large holes in the woods, so they had the German people of the town dig up the bodies and let me tell you, it was some sight. 184 dead refugees, Polish, Russian, Jewish and all the others. They were slaughtered there. Heads were bashed in. Arms were cut off, one man had a hole in his head as big as a grapefruit, and his brains were laying with about a foot away. There were children 15 years of age. The rest were from 30 to 40 years old. Some of these people died from being shot in the mouth, the side of the head, etcetera. They were laid in long rows.
As the German civilians reached the woods, they had to pick up these bodies and put them into the box and carry them to the German cemetery where they were laid out in front of all the people. Everybody carried these coffins, including the women. After they were all in the cemetery, a Catholic and Protestant chaplain made a prayer. A German voice told the german people there what the soldiers and some of them had done and been the cause of. After they finished, a Jewish fellow who had a brother lying in one of those holes made a speech. Several times he had to pause and cover his face to keep from bursting into tears. He told the German people how they had been tortured, and made to walk almost 100 miles and how they were killed when they dropped. He said that 80,000 left a Polish city and only 5000 reached Germany.
These bodies that were found here were nothing.
There are 10s of thousands more that have been burned, killed and put into gas chambers. One refugee told of 9000 Russian women being slaughtered. After he finished the talk, me and two other Jewish men said a prayer. If the Americans hadn’t come when they did, the 120 that were left would have been killed also.
One more thing he mentioned. The germans told them they would never be freed by the americans because they would kill them all before the americans got there.
Next, a young Russian girl said a few words which I didn’t understand. After all the prayers were said the whole population of this german city started a single line and every single man woman and child had to pass the 184 coffins and look at the mutilated bodies.
Some of the women were crying but it looked to me that the majority of them were laughing deep down in their hearts.
After everyone had seen the bodies, the civilians put the tops on the boxes and were going to bury them in the German cemetery. I think the Germans didn’t like the idea of burying these people in the cemetery. It’s something they will remember when they see the graves
There are lots of things like this going on. I never believed it too much. I thought that the people who told the stories were exaggerating a bit. But I’ve seen it now. I know. I took a lot of pictures of everything. I got a picture of most of the dead bodies. One picture I missed was the one where a civilian shoveled up the brains of the dead bodies and set them in the coffin.
OK, I will send you the pictures as soon as I can get them developed. Mom, I can’t explain how beat up those bodies were, but if you can picture a human for the worst kind. Of a beat up mess, you might get an idea how they looked. It was awful.
There was one young boy who found his father among the mess.
I guess that is about all I can write for now. So I close with all my love to you and Bernice.
Bless you both.
Love Sid.
PS Please excuse all the misspelled words and the shaky writing. I’m writing on my knees.