Oral History Interview with Jack Arnel

Aaron Kuptsow talks about his experiences as a radar navigation bombardier, 15th Air Force during World War II, especially his instructions in the event of capture, both as a Jew and as a radar operator.

He describes his capture, together with other crew members, after their plane was shot down near Hanover, Germany, on November 26, 1944, as well as a forced march to a Luftwaffe station at Detmold, then to an interrogation station at Wetzlar, near Frankfurt, Germany. There he experienced intensive questioning about Radar; solitary confinement, and an act of kindness by a German guard. He was transferred to STALAG I, a prison camp for air force officers, at Barth on the Baltic. He talks about conditions in the camp, the other prisoners, and different treatment by the Germansof officers and enlisted men who were prisoners of war. One day all the Jewish prisoners were put into a separate barracks in a secluded section of the camp. He explains how the prisoners organized their barracks and relied on Red Cross parcels for food. In fact, food was their main topic of conversation. News from the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) was distributed throughout the camp clandestinely every day. Although they were allowed to send and receive mail, none of the prisoners’ mail was ever sent out.

The American prisoners took over the camp on April 30, 1945. He vividly describes the arrival of Russian troops on horseback accompanied by accordion music, and their behavior while in the STALAG. The Americans were flown to camps for liberated prisoners of war near Lyon, France. He describes some delays during his discharge from the service and how he entered medical school. Dr. Kuptsow again reflects on conditions at the camp and how being a prisoner of war affected him.

Leo Mantelmacher, the second youngest of five children, was born in June 23, 1919 in Kozienice, Poland. His father was a tailor. Leo describes him as a religious and self-educated, multilingual open minded person. Leo details pre-war life in Poland, including several incidents of abuse by antisemitic students, teachers and adults, especially around Easter. He contrasts the good relations with the Volksdeutsche that lived nearby.

Leo details life after the German invasion in 1939 and brutal treatment of Jews by the SS. Leo and some other Jews were transported to Radom, and housed with Jewish soldiers segregated from the Polish army. His sister was able to bribe a Volksdeutsche in the camp to get Leo out. Back in Kozienice Leo made clothing for local Poles in exchange for food. Leo cites may occasions when so called “miracles” helped him to survive. Leo describes the creation of the Kozienice Ghetto and briefly mentions several brutal killings of children by Germans and the killing of Moishe Brunstein, a member of the Judenrat, by fellow Jews. He mentions a few times when Poles assisted them for money: delivering their bartered food payment so it would not be confiscated from Leo and holding some fur for Leo who would have been shot for smuggling. Leo explains how he was one of several hundred people from his ghetto who were saved from 1942 ghetto liquidation1 when the Poles requested the Jewish labor force be able to stay to finish draining the swamp.

Leo was deported in October 1942 to Wolanów labor camp where he did brutal cement work. Leo witnessed piles of Russian POW corpses upon their arrival at Wolanów labor camp and describes that Italians were executed in front of them by Ukrainian SS. He also recalls one Polish worker who treated Leo humanely, helped him secretly make clothes which he was able to barter for food and helped Leo’s brother Max when he had typhoid fever. In early 1943, Leo volunteered for an ammunition work brigade in Radom to try to reunite with Max. He talks about his near starvation until Max was able to smuggle him some gold which he traded for bread.

In July 1944 Leo went on a forced march to Tomaszow-Mazowiecki where he spent about six weeks digging anti-tank ditches on almost no rations. He describes arrival at Auschwitz and a selection by Dr. Mengele. Two days later, Leo and others that had not been killed upon arrival were sent by cattle car to Vaihingen, near Stuttgart, to dig tunnels for German factories. Again he made caps and clothing to trade for food. He also recalls that an elderly Polish guard hid him so he could rest from the brutal labor.

In late 1944 Leo and other surviving prisoners were moved to Dachau concentration camp. After four weeks, everyone was given a Red Cross package and taken out of Dachau. Leo relates the bad experiences his group had after liberation: almost being shot by fleeing SS and lack of shelter and food. Their ordeal ended when they encountered American troops. After staying in a private home they were sent to Mittenwald Displaced Persons camp for six or seven weeks. He recounts how his sister found him and he was reunited with her and his other siblings all of whom survived. Leo came to the United States in 1949.

See also the interview with his brother, Max Mantelmacher.

Rudy Klein was born in Bonn, Germany in 1904. His father died when he was 5 and he was raised

by his mother who died in Theresienstadt in 1942. Rudy had a standard German education but very minimal Jewish education. His family were members of a Reform synagogue but observed very little.

Mr. Klein talks about his reaction to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the effect it had on his job at a department store. He was fired in 1935, after the enactment of the Nuremberg laws.

Mr. Klein left for America in 1936 and he describes his beginnings in New York. He discusses the decimation of his family who had remained in Germany and tells the story of a cousin who was a brain surgeon. This cousin and his family fled to Russia but when Germany invaded Russia they were murdered by the Russians. Mr. Klein speaks briefly about his life in the United States.

Mr. Klein’s Arbeitsbuch[work permit book] was donated to the Holocaust Oral History Archive by his niece-in-marriage, Marcia Webber. A program book of a German government sponsored visit to Germany in 1987 was also donated.

Mr. Bonner of the 159th Engineer Batallion, 3rd and 9th Army, saw combat in Normandy, Brittany, the Battle of the Bulge, and Germany. He mentions atrocities committed by Germans against French resistance fighters. He arrived in Buchenwald on April 17, 1945, several hours after its liberation. He describes conditions at Buchenwald, piles of bodies, evidence of mass cremations, semi-starved condition of survivors, their reaction to the liberators, as well as harmful effect of giving survivors their rations.

He relates the rest of his war experiences, including encounters with German soldiers and civilians. Post-war, his unit built a camp in Antwerp, Belgium housing German prisoners of war. He expresses his thoughts about the causes of Hitler’s rise to power, and Germany’s role in World War II and the Holocaust. He hopes that his testimony will prevent future Holocausts.

Margot Freudenberg, born August 8, 1907 in Hanover, Germany, attended gymnasium and learned Jewish history, music and literature from her parents. She describes antisemitism after 1933 and later restrictions on her father’s medical practice.

In 1934, after marriage and birth of a son, she obtained permits for emigration to South Africa, but her parents refused to leave Germany. She mentions attending a service during Kristallnacht, when the synagogue was set on fire. The kindness of Gentiles is detailed in regard to her son’s surgery in a German hospital when Jews were refused entry. She and her family escaped to England in June 1939. After arrival in the United States in 1940, Margot became a physical therapist and was honored in 1967 for her work with the intellectually disabled.

Henrich Hofman was born July 20, 1922 in Lipecka Polyana, Czechoslovakia. He describes pre-war life,his education, being a member of Shomer Hatzair, and the good relationship his family had with the non-Jews in the area. His father was a carpenter.He describes the Hungarian Occupation, harassment of Jews starting in 1940, including confiscation of stores. He details the horrors in Passover 1941,when his whole town was deported in cattle cars to Rachof (Rachov). He describes the trip, selection, and an intervention by the Budapest Jewish community to prevent the evacuation of Jewish citizens of that area which saved his group. Henrich describes looking out the cattle car through slits at the condemned group and seeing the Germans throwing Jews into trucks as if they were pieces of wood. His part of the transport was then taken to a concentration camp in Rachof. His friend who survived from the other part of the transport told him months later that the Germans murdered the rest of the group in the Dnieper Riverin Kamenets-Podolski.

In October 1943 he details his deportation to and forced labor in Görgenyoroszfalù (Romania, occupied by Hungary) where he helped to build an airfield. In January1944 he volunteered to work elsewhere, was taken to Rákoshegy near Budapest where he worked building German barracks from March through July 1944. He describes the much improved conditions,lots of food, ability to leave on Shabbat to go to Jews in the community before they liquidated the area. Henrich ended up working for a German officer as personal tailor, and describes some kindnesses from some Germans. A German co-worker hid him and a friend in an attic to avoid deportation. He describes how the work of his hands helped him to survive on many occasions.

He was liberated on November 15, 1944 by the Soviet frontline and worked as an interpreter for the Soviet army for 11 months. He was reunited with his sisters in Chust (Khust) in1945, went to Budapest, met and married his wife in October and moved to the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia from 1945–49. They emigrated to Israel in July 1949 and eventually to the United States in 1959.