PFC Carl Shepard Newspaper story est. 1945 - city unknown: PFC,. Carl Shepard has written his parents Mr. and Mrs. James L. Shepard of this city, about the horrors of one of the infamous German concentration camps which was seized by American troops. PFC.. Shepard is a German interpreter with the U. S. forces in Germany. The letter follows: Dear folks; Since I wrote you last I have certainly seen and experienced many things. But of them all what I saw a couple of days ago is by far the worst. I saw something with my own eyes which will stay with me for as long as I live. I saw what the Germans have done to the Jews, the Poles and all the others. I will tell the whole story from beginning to end so you can follow it more easily. One morning the Germans moved as many of the Jews from this particular camp as could walk or be moved. Then since they knew the Americans were coming they sprayed gasoline around all the buildings and probably on those who were left behind too, then they set fire to the place. That was in the morning and that afternoon the Americans got there. I was there that afternoon too and I saw the remains. Just a short time before I got there there were a few who were about half-alive but by the time I got there they were all dead. In one room there had been a large number because the corpses were pile pretty high, but the rest were just scattered around all over the place, lying where they had died. They were all skin and bones. They had been starved for as long as five years some of them. A few were lucky enough to escape. There were perhaps ten or twelve who got out alive. I talked to some of them. They were just so overjoyed that they wanted to kiss everyone they met, especially the Americans. They were able to escape because of a shell fired by the Americans, which blew a hole in one of the buildings. They too, were just skin and bones. They were just wandering about, no knowing where to go but so happy that they were just free again. And you can't imagine what that means unless you have seen someone like these people. According to one who got out, there were about 250 who were killed or burned as the Germans retreated, and judging from the bodies I saw I would guess that there were that many. I did not take any pictures and I am glad I didn't. The sights I saw were too horrible. Up until now I had been inclined to think the stories about the concentration camps were exaggerated, but now that I have seen one my self I know that they don't begin to tell the truth. It is impossible to describe in words what it was like. |