Oral History Interview with Murray Granger

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Title

Oral History Interview with Murray Granger

Date

March 19, 1989

Contributor

Interviewee:
Murray Granger
Interviewer:
Philip G. Solomon

Summary

Murray Granger, a Jewish American soldier later captured as a prisoner of war, served with the Third Ranger Batallion of the United States Army. He was captured by the Germans in the south of France, September 1, 1944. During a brutal interrogation, he gave his name as Aloysius O’Brien instead of Goldstein to avoid Jewish identification and was reported as Missing in Action for 14 months, which he believes was an attempt to protect him and other POW's from greater cruelties.

He was interned at Stalag 2-B Hammerstein, working a 17-hour day in heavy road work, on a diet of six potatoes and water once a day. Caught stealing coal during a freezing winter, he endured public lashing as punishment. After six months of brutal degradation, he was sent to a prison farm near Strausberg and worked under a sadistic female German guard and six SS men. He describes the staging of a fatal dehumanizing conflict for food consumption by starving POWs and a farcical show of benign treatment staged for the International Red Cross visit.

In a secret camp for Jewish prisoners, he discovered 200 survivors out of a group of 1200 who were kept chained and beaten. When the Russian forces liberated the farm camp and killed the German guards, he remained with the other POWs until they were mentally and physically prepared to return home. On July 1, 1945, he was repatriated to the USA.


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Publisher:
Gratz College
Number of Tapes:
1
Language:
English
Identifier:
HOHAGC00185
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