<Begin Segment 42>

TI: So you saw there was some similarities between what the Germans were doing and what happened to --

VW: Yes, I did. Oh, yeah, yes, I did.

TI: -- people of Japanese ancestry.

VW: And to this day, I worry about when the President signs an executive order. That is, you got to watch those executive orders, because the Roosevelt Executive Order 9066 really affected a mass, 120,000, if you will, of people who were of Japanese descent, and who had done nothing. Who had done nothing; it was just prejudice.

TI: Now, how long did you stay around Dachau in terms of...

VW: About, seems to me like it was around three days, something like that, and then we had to leave. But in the meantime, I took guys, like three and four guys and I'd... who were prisoners, and we go, and I'd go knocking on doors and seeing if I couldn't get 'em some food and maybe some clothing, too.

TI: Oh, so let me, let me set this up. So you took several prisoners from Dachau and went into the German town and tried to get more food or --

VW: It was almost right there within walking distance of the extermination ovens and all that.

TI: Okay, so now, so describe what happened.

VW: Well, I knocked on the door, and, of course, I unzipped my combat jacket 'cause I had a, I had a Luger sitting right here underneath my left arm in case a firefight came out. I wasn't sure where the SS troops were. Supposedly they had left, but (I) don't know if they did or not. Maybe they had some ties in, in that area there or some real close friends, and they may have just hid in the houses right there with 'em and changed clothes. And then I wasn't sure what kind of individuals they were. What if they opened the door when I knocked, and then stick a gun out and fire? As I think about it now, it was probably far more dangerous that what I thought it was at the time. But nothing happened, thank goodness, but it took them some time, a long time to come to the door. But maybe you can't blame 'em, I don't know. I don't really know what was going on in their minds. But when they saw me standing there with these three or four guys behind me in striped clothes, I suppose it did frighten them a little bit. And, of course, they had all their doors locked, I'm sure, when the SS left.

TI: So after they opened the door, they saw you and the prisoners, then what happened next?

VW: I told him that they had to give 'em food and maybe blankets, and I went like this, and they knew what, they knew what I was asking for. And they would go and try to dig up something to give 'em. And they had food, they did. It was the people behind me that had no food. And so, and they would, they would tend, they would do what I asked them to do, which was... thank goodness they did. Then I'd go to the next door and do the same thing.

TI: Now, what made you do this? This is sort of out of the ordinary. I mean, the other soldiers weren't doing this.

VW: Yeah, it was. I just decided I had to do something, so that's what I did, yeah. And they were looking for food, and I said, "Come on, come with me." And so we'd go knocking on doors. And I didn't speak much German then, but I knew a few words and I'd say, "Kommen Sie." And, now, later on I could speak pretty well. And I would say, "[German]," which means that, "You come with me and we'll take a walk down here." But I wasn't quite that fluent with German at the time, yeah.

TI: Any interesting exchanges between the Germans and the prisoners that you observed during this time?

VW: No, I didn't hear a word difference. Because sometimes I would leave as soon as they decided they would go get 'em something and so on, then I'd go to the next house and take some more people with me and knock on the door, do the same thing again. But you never know how that was going to turn out for sure. But, you know, war was still going on, and it was April 29th, and April 30, and then May the 1st. And so the war was still going, yeah. So they had a right to, I guess, to defend themselves, and, of course, I had a right to ask for food, too. So that's the way it came out.

TI: That's a good story.

<End Segment 42> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.