Viewing page 6 of 11

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Transcription: [00:12:35]
[00:12:35]
{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
And the, did you have much direct encounter with the prisoners, and the--?

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Not at all. Not at all. I-, the only one I had a discussion with was Scheufelen and I didn't even see Rudolph, while I was present there.
[00:12:50]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm. Uh, OK, so -­

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
And this visit was not even a must, but it was an interest, you should have at least seen that once.
[00:13:03]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm It was really in some ways it covered a massive area underground, did it not?

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Oh It did. A massive area. A massive area. You know, they had started out and had constantly increased that, constantly.
[00:13:19]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
And they'd added many other things there. They'd ended up producing jet engines.

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Yes, right.

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
V-1s and other things inside the facility as well, over time.

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Yeah-yeah
[00:13:34]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Um, so you were, you had gone back and essentially uncontrolled, from Oberammergau all the way back to Thuringia again, right.

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Right. Right.
[00:13:49]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
And you had gone all the way back there, been contacted by the Americans, and you were then removed from there when the Americans told you that the Russians were coming in?

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Ja, we were told, OK, we give you the occasion to get out of that area to the western side, and um the American army brought us to Saalfeld
[00:14:24]

in the train. And the train brought us then to southern Germany. And there were quite few who said, no, we want to stay here. And I gave them the advice, don't, don't, get out, get out. "Well, how should our husbands know that we are not here any more but that we are in south of Germany?" I said, "That is something which will be arranged, so don't worry about that, but get out."
[00:14:54]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm. You're talking to, about the wives of--­

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
--for example, the air force people whom we had, they were in uniform, and since they were in uniform, they were taken as prisoners and sent into some detention camp, and how should they know where their wives are?
[00:15:17]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
And I knew that, I was absolutely sure, we get those people out of those camps and we did. And then we of course said, "OK, they are in southern Germany, they are not any more in Thuringia."
[00:15:30]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mm-hmm. So you were involved in encouraging other people to evacuate when the Americans evacuated.

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Right. Right.
[00:15:39]

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Mmm-hmm,because I know that there was, in effect, for some people, they just were warned almost at the last minute. That uh, you hear these stories of, Americans came knocking on the door, said, "You gotta get out of here in 48 hours," or something like that.
[00:15:56]

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
Yeah, No. Uh, we didn't have too many. I believe there were about five who didn't want to go out, and I contacted them personally, that, please, don't. Get out.

{SPEAKER name="Michael Neufeld"}
Yeah

{SPEAKER name="Karl Heimburg"}
I convinced them.