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Sunday, Ifiay 2f , lQfSNow that I a.n baek I wlll glve you a short {regune{--lt can only beshont because we aaw so nueh and. hacl so many lnpresslons- and, I slrould. severythlng qulte confllctlng and. often contracllctory- that lt Just lsnrtposslble to wrlte alL- lt wou1d. take days. But wlth the forthconlnglssues of IAI.IK youlll get a pretty good. plcture of what we s&tr. Espec-1aIly as Hamy, who was wlth me, 1g a much better mrlter than I a^n. SoI wonrt nentlon Berchtesgaden- as Harry wrote a very good. story whlchca^ne out toclay, ancl.whlch w11]- be usecl by all other YANK ed.ltlone, be-cause ltls so goocl (of eourse so are the photos).Asld.e fnom the poIltlcal sld.e- Austrla and. Gernany stlll arebeautlful countrlee, and. Italy Just oanlt compare, ln ny oplnlon. Therenotlrlng llke tyrol, or the trlp from Innsbruek to $al.zburg. No pneJucLlcthat ls the oplnlon too of the Gfrs who were ln lta1y, France anct nowthere, Otherwlse thlngs look pretty hopeless to ne. llhere cloesnlt seemto be a prograJrr yet - and. I clonrt have much falth ln the Mllltary Governnent, fnon what Ilve seen ln ltaly.To come to the trlp- on the flret clay we left Verona; that ls aftewe had alreacty been ln Benchtesgacten ancl. returnecl to Verona because thatras the only place from whene we coulcl send. our copy and. plx to Bome.0therrrylse we were out of conmunlcatlon d.urlng our whole trlp. lYel1r swent thru Bozen and. the Brennen, thnr Innsbruck and. go_! a6 tar as theIla-Lchensee, where re stayed. wlth an Anerlcan outflt.-'t[e never hrew wh,erwe were golng to sleep- sometlnes slept wlth outflts who had taken overhotels and. houses, but of eourse preferrecl. to stay fuf eone rlGasthofrl- aslt was nore lnteregtlng to us. The only hltch there was, that we wened.oubtful whether we were a-llowed. to flnd our own bll}et- lt nlght coueund.en lfraternlzatlonr-but we assumed. that we were exempted as correE-ponclents. 9o we never l-ookecl for our own blIlet lf there were troups lnthat tonn, anet stayecl wtth the Gfls, lf we dtdnlt ttrlnk we could. flntl ouown ln the next place,--Ae you can lnaglne - al1. sroaller towns ancl vlllagare fulL wlth refugees, from VLenna, 911eela and all the other blg altleEspeolally the ones ln-Rugslan occupletl temltory clonlt know whether thew111 go back. Now of course no&odly car], and thanks to the propagantta a1Europe 1g efrald. of tle Ruselans.The geconct clay we left Walehensee, went thru Munlch, .Augeburg andgot f1na1Ly to a town not fan fron Stuttgart by the nane of Ploohlngen,where we stayed wlttr a Rallroacl Bn. All these unlte were very nlcer &rrdwhen you say you &re from YAI{K, they always make roon for you, Ithappened. only-once that they sald. they eouLclnrt put us up, and. that rasMlL. Gorrernnent.--We d.ld.nrt spend. very much tlne ln Munlch. ft ls bad.lywrecked. but there are stlIl sone b.ouses standlng. Of course, even rb.htls standlng ls ba.dly clanaged.. Somehow there seened. to be more people lnMunlch than ln the other cltles we saw, It d,ld.nlt seem so cteacl. I dlldknow Augsburg before the war- lt waenrt badly hlt.A town 1lke Ploohlngen ls practlcally und.aruagecl. One of the out-stand.lng lnpresslons I had. of the whole trlp- rld.lng all over you see muLess clestructlon than you woulil expect- and. the cltles look worse, alnosunbellevabLe. But the J.lttle vlllages are all uncla^nagecl, you aan nld.efor hours wlthout seelng a slgn of war. Rall-roacl tracks lntact-naybeart overturned. or burnt 5ut vef,tcle ln the cL16oh- on the whole peaceful.Ilhere the bonblng though was concentratedl, cleetructlon ls terrlflc.After MunlCh we went to Dachau fLrgt-had to have a speclal pernltwhlch we got easl1y, though everybocl.y.had. told. us that ltrs alnost ln-poselble. One M11. Gov.Offlcer salil (he was the topnan ln the town ofDachau) there ls notblng left to see, Of course I am referrlng to theconcentratlon canps. l{tellr w went anyway and found. out that of }2O00

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-2-people lL000 were stlll there. An attenpt was 'nncte to clean up theplace- a few hospltals were operatlng on the ca^up ground.s. I clonrthave to go lnto dletalls how the people lookecl. ftfs terrlble anct ltwas goocl for me to see beoause I nlght have softenecl otherwlse oco&s-lonalIy. Next mornlng we went fron Plochlngen to Stuttgart-He1d.e1-berg-Mannheln-Karlsruhe-Hernenalb-Ettl1ngen. l8h1s was one of the nosteventful of ctays. Stuttgartls Lnner town 1s harct to recognlze- nothlnstandlng along Koenlgstrasse. Just rubble ancl burnt out sheils. thehllls around. dtonlt look so bad., though I Clld.nrt look for Heclwlgte oldhouse. lfhe chanses are that lt ls stl11 stand.lng. Dlctntt spend anytlne ln 9tuttgart, there ls nothlng to see and. I d.ldnlt know anybod.y.Next we went th:ru Pforzheln-whlch tg absolutely unrecognlzable-thoughtI would. go to Beerrs oltl house but coulcLnrt flnd. 1t a$-aIL- Lots ofstreets are not cleared. yet and some only one way gtneets. Pant oftown wae absolutely flattened, more than other towns we sas, thoughqonpaqlsons are really d.lfflcuIt. Qulte a contrast to lleld.elberg whlccloesnft even have a bu].Iet hole- full wlth people and GI-s. Lots of4:nny offlcee, nefugeeg and. what not. Maybe refugee le a wrong na&e-Just bonbecl out people or escaplste from tlre Amerlcan-Bnltlgh Armtes.The stores were open, the $alanancler shoe etore ls stl,Il ln Aunt Elle Io1d. place as le the Hofapotheke. It was a strange slght. llelclelbergwas the place where they wouldlnlt put us up- exoept lf we went thruchamels ancl re dldnlt cto that. 9o re went on to Mannbeln, thru Seckenbeln whlch has becone the eenten of a blg supply onganlzatlon.-Antl theManntrelm! f,eIl, lt has ehanged and plctures oanrt ieally show lt. Itls so conpletely dleacl, when I went to lfend.erst, I d.ld.nlt see a soulthere ae long as I stayed.---I wasnrt partlcularly happy-though ofcourse lt alL gave ne satlefaetlon.--F1net paseed. by some known housesllke Nahnls ancl Relsls, there are Just no exoeptlons, some have a lltt].more and gome leeg faead.e left- nothlng 1ns1cle.--The tnees ln Wercleretal.L wene bloonlng- and the rulns- lt ras an eerle slght. Acrogg ourhouse they had. put ln chalk the addresses of the tenants, the only oneI reao$ntzedl was Eleaeeserf s, who Ilve ln lleldelberg. I took lt dtown,but never went thene. Of course nobocty ls L1v1ng ln any of thesehouses ancl I Juet clonlt understa"nd. whene the 14O'0OO people J.lve thatare etlLL ln Ma^nnheln. fient to EJ.lzabethstn. ard saw a slgrt rlfa:rzln,a wooiten front ln a patched. up house 2 or t houses from where they hadthelr store. I hol,lored. and. some people appearecl, Frau Marzl was oneof then ancL she cane d.own and. nememberecl ne anct you, of oourge. lte haqulte a talk. She Looks awful, loet her whole fa.nlly, claughter by abonb, son 1n the Army as cloctor got an lnfectlon, her hugbanil. of grlefafter the chlldren were gone, ancl her son-ln-law ls a^n 9$ man ln Hungathe tolcl ne how tenrlbLe all these years hacl been-anil I have no d.oubtthat. Ehe blg etore ls a total loss. ghd says aslcle fron belng alonethe ronet thlng ls to llve ln rulns. Llke uost Gernans she nealLzesthat lt le all d.eeerved.. IIe gosslped. for some tlne-she told ne th^atErna O. and. hen 2 sons rent to Ettllngen ln March. fhat mad.e me go d.othere later. Frau Marzl wae the only person I talhed. to ln Manntreln-soulclnlt know how to look for anybocly. Drove arorxrcl for anotber horr-8.X.2!rPla^nken, Breltestr.rBahnhof , Rhelnbrlilge, and. took narry plx.,whlch I shail sendl f,oue Very bard. to photograph thougb. Trled to goto the port, to flnd the factoayr but all the brld.ges wene out and. thels a new wooclen brldge way iLown acnoss the Neckar, but I d.ld.nlt know lfI cou1cl even flnd. lt fron there- and I know how lt alL Looks anyway. 9after spenillng about J hours, and. talklng to Just one person, I leftMh.n, agaln. One of the very fer bulldlnge stlll stand.lng ls the Chrlschurch, the Wassertulu ls about half as hlgh as lt usecl to be.

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3Solng to Ettllngen we sent thru Karlsruhexr_ but I ilonrt qulte re-nenber how lt lookecl. In Ettllngen I thought the best way how toflnd. the farnlly 0.. was to go to the Mayon-the town ltse1f ls con-trolled. by the French whereas Mannhelm ls Anerlcan. By one of trosequeer oolnclcl.onc-es the Mayor knew one of the sons, lot sald lhqy wen{n llerrena&b. The trfiayor was the onJ.y Jew left ln Ett].1ngen-hacl tohlde i nonths at the end wlth hls son ancl after the fa].L the 1lbera].of th-e towi asked. hln J tlnes to become Bu:rgennelster. that ofeourse was a wond.erful story for YAI{K, ancl f wonft rrlte nore abouthln ae Harry le rrltlng a etory. He galcl tbene wera about 70-80Jews left ln ldannhelm, but they were alJ. d.eported Just before the enhe d.oesnf t know where to. He says of ]0000 la Baclen there were abou22O left. Ettllngen by th,e way ls praotloaLly untla^nagecl, lnclud.lngthe few factorles there. (IIls name ls Frltz $tnaus, has a brotherErnst 1n Unlon Clty, N.J.) Together we went to Hemenalb, founcl EnnaO. wlth her parents. the hugged. and. kleeecl me-I was the ftrst Anercan she saw. It wae velry nloe. the looks pretty awful, but I thlnkanybod.y who llved. 1n Sdannheln hact a tough tlne. Tbe boys are nlce-and. grbwn up. They all told me how the people dldntt belleve ln any-thh[ anSrnore, but they were nuch to rclul].eclr for anythlng. The eonas halfaryans never rere acoeptable for the Wehrmaoht, whlch ofcourse ras thelr luck-anil they were a1]. offlclall.y treatecl pretty muIlke the Jews. But the olct story-h,ow nalry people were nlce to them,how well she was treatecl. ln the stores, etc. Her fathen has lost anawful J.ot of welght, I thlnk he welghs less than 100 tbe. Her notheloohs al.l nlght.- the herself has heart trouble- anct loohs lt. Aftespenctlng a couple of hours ln the garclen we met the !fiayor agaln, to-gbtfrer wftfr the new Mayor of Herrenalb. l{e had. to go to ? palty wltione French, at least thatle where re got so4ethlng to eat. La.te atnlght we clr6ve back to Ettllngen, where the Mayor putus up ln a hoteat aolty e:rpensen ancl you should. have seen the owner rgn anound_trylto please ub - or rather hlm. [he next mornlng we ryg1t to the Ra.tha_hail a lengthy talk wlth Mayor Strausg and hls wlfe (Chnlstlan, but ssuff ereiL eveir more than he dld.), then we left Ettllngenr went thruIlerrenalb agaln to say gooctbye-6ver the Dobel-Pforzheln-9tuttgart-Crasheln to a Ltttte vlIlage 1n Bavarla.calleil Vorclenbreltentha:n, not tfar from Nuernberg. Stayed ln a Gasthofr very pnlnnltlve- by ohancetalked to the Mayon there also- he has been !fiayor for a].most a 1lea1'rparty menben Eonlyr slnce L937, Noboily thought..lt necessary to re-pfacb hlm. 0f coirrse uhe neven llked. the Nazlsr as everyboily ln Genany now says. When I agked hln how lt woulcl be posslble, flnst hehad.- to work- wlth the Nazls anct now agalnst them, he replled.: rlohmuss nloh halt umsteLlenr. No oonment.-It nay lnteregt you that whenwe etayed at an lnn, hacl breakfast t]rere, we never payed. _a penny. Aa natter of fact - re only hadl eone Ilre ln our pockets- but then weare not aLlowecl to buy anyttrtng anyway. For supper- lf re dld.nlt eatwlth an outflt aLong the roaclr w hacl sone ratlons we brought along,heated. The f lfth d.ay we went thnu Nurnberg, also aL1 1n rulns r -acrosthe borden to Pllsen. Up to then rve hail al.ways good. weather, that daanil some of the foLlowlng we hadl raln anct a Jeep 1s not bulLt fon thIf you put the top upr }rou get Juet as set. When we went ao$osg thebortler re thought the people woulct agaln be happler-but that 1s $ud.etenlancl and. they aLL wlLl-have to go to Gernany eventually and Ihaclnlt neallzedl- tbat..Oettlng lnto real Czech tegltory then-peoplellnlng the streets ancl cheerlng, though lt mugt have been at LeastL0 dais after the Llberatlon. Ilent to Plleen, where the Mll.Govern-

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4ment treated. us very nleely-gave us a Lot of lnfornatlon. gorae nelatedoutflt hact a ctance and re had. to Bo. It was agatn posslble to rfraternlzes. fhe clance saE qulte a sucses6, nlce people there and. pnettyglrls. I even dlancecl a few tlneg, for I thLnk the 2nd. tlne slnce Itvebeen ln the Army. They gerved. Plleener beer, lt ls llke the uElnheltsblerH that was macte ln 6ermany, or naybe Jusi a llttle better. But reabadk a^nd[ clrank-I nust have had. 20 glasses- andL felt less than I dtoafter a glass of shentrf.---Next d.ay after studylng some of the cornpLl-catecl pnoblens thsre, fhe Busslan Ilne ls only a few m1les outslcte-people canlt onogs any borcten, we left honewarct bound. agaln. fhruPassau-trylng to get to Klagenfurt- but the Rueslans weie ln betwoenancl we hlt roaclblocks twlco. Had to ma.ke large cletours and lt tookalnost 2 dlays to endl-up 12 nl.les outgldle 8aLzbu:rg. As we hadl to chargour plans anct coulctn I t nake frleste thnu Austrla, but cleclclecl to takethe Brenner agaln. Outsld.e Salzburg we hacl a sllght aeclctent- fiarrywae drlvlng and. ln a nsrros roadl rlth a truck conlng towardls us, he hlan lron ralI on the slile of the road, d.anaglng the wheel anil froat-enclle had. to get a wrecker to hau]. us to a.n oianance. fhat took the restof the d.ay-but they were very nlce-gave lt prlorlty and. startedl nextnornlng taklng pante of another Jeep and. flxlng ours. fhat tooh a d.aybut a d.ay of nest was good.-after all the excltement I couldnlt evenreacl a book ar4noore- and. that d.ay lt wae pourtng llke natter Eo ltwouLclnlt have been so pleasant.The next d.ay then we went agaln thru Innsbruck, to Verona, where5th Arny Prese Canp had moved. out nearrwhlle and. we went to the Offleerfranslent l{otel and. got a nlce room.--The tenth dtay leavlng at 6 andgolng llke nade-lunch ln Florencet re sere Ln Rone at about J, ln tlnefor supper-very welcoue after eatlng poorly most of the tlne. Thatlast ilay was almost J!0 mlles, thatrs a lot for lttly wlth all the by-passes anct bad. road.s-- Altogether I was gone fon alnort 7 weeke-wlthJust one d,ay ln between ln Rome. Anc[ I should. say a lot happenecl lnthoee weeke: fhe tenslon before the push-then roughgolng fon a whlLe-ancl then the collapse and our golng to Gernany (Berchtesgaclen), travelllng 6OOO nlles (iarove 5900); I know I hardiy wrote- b[t th6ie wereunusual weeks-so ful.J. of dra^ua-that lt was harcl to graep. Now I ansettllng clown to a oalmer llfe-fattenlng up as I nust have lost 10pounils, ancl rrltlng letterg all d.ay long.f oould go on rattllng about Gernany-but lt would.n I t be anythlngyou havenlt al.reacty geen 1n the papers, It Loohs Ilke a beaten eountrThe slave laborers along the hlghways-the homecomlng sloppy so1d.lers-the rhlto flags on the houees ancl the bread.llnes 1n front of the gtoreTleLL, I have exlraueted. nyself for the nonent- the nest of thestaff has gone to the beach, but I lve had. ny outiloors for a whlle----