Oral History Interview with Philip Bonner

Philip Bonner describes being in the 159th Engineer Batallion, 3rd and 9th Army; participating in combat in Normandy, Brittany, the Battle of the Bulge, and Germany; the atrocities committed by Germans against French resistance fighters; arriving in Buchenwald on April 17, 1945 several hours after its liberation; conditions at Buchenwald and seeing piles of bodies, evidence of mass cremations, and semi-starved survivors; the reaction of the survivors to the liberators and the harmful effect of giving survivors their rations; his other war experiences, including encounters with German soldiers and civilians; his unit building a camp in Antwerp, Belgium housing German prisoners of war; his thoughts about the causes of Hitler’s rise to power and Germany’s role in World War II and the Holocaust; and his hope that his testimony will help to prevent future Holocausts.

Date: 11/29/1990
Interviewer: Philip G. Solomon
Interviewee: Philip Bonner
Language: English
Subject: Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945.
Concentration camp inmates.
Cremation.
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives.
Prisoner-of-war camps--Belgium--Antwerp.
Prisoners of war--Germany.
Starvation.
World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities.
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France.
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Germany.
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Western Front.
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation.
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American.
World War, 1939-1945--Veterans--United States.
Men--Personal narratives.
Geographic Name
Antwerp (Belgium)
Ardennes (France)
Brittany (France)
Normandy (France)
Weimar (Thuringia, Germany)
Location: USA
Normandy, France
Brittany, France
Buchenwald concentration camp
Antwerp, Belgium
Permalink: https://hoha.digitalcollections.gratzcollege.edu/item/oral-history-interview-with-philip-bonner/
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