RE: LOUIE C. GILLESPIE INTERVIEWER: CAMP: DATE: TRANSCRIBED BY: RUTH SCHEINBERG, NOVEMBER 17, 1981 Mr. Gillespie, what is your full name? A Louie Clement Gillespie. Q And where do you live? Your address now? A P 0 Box 147, Locust Road, Georgia. Q And when were you born? What was your birthday? A I was born December 7, 1920. Q And how old were you when you liberated the camp? A I was.. let's see, 22.... 22 or 23 years old. somewhere's... about half between there. Q Okay. And what were you doing before the war? What kind of work were you in? A Construction work. Q And what were you doing until the time you got sick this time? What kind of work were you in? (Rock Quarry) A Well, I was working for Brocker Material Rough Clay (uncertain if this is correct name) at Stockbridge. Q Rock quarry. Is that work in Macon.... 7 A Crushing stone ... Q Crushing stone ... were you running a machine, or were you ..running the plant. A I was running the plant, yeah. Q You were the supervisor? A No, I was control operator... control operator... that's the ... using the big machine.. That's the running all the crusher, it's in a building up in a tower where you look down and watch the conveyer belts and all the screens and it goes it runs out to different piles. Q Okay, and what was your military unit when you liberated the camp? A Pirst Infantry Division, I was in 16th REgiment.. -3- 1 C Gillespie A Well, we heard.... lots talking about the ... you know what they did to them and everything, you know. Concentration camps and everything else... we just. I didn't know what really it was until I seen 'em . Q you say you heard about it.... did the Amy give you any classes on it, or was it just scuttlebut mostly... ? A Just mostly scuttlebut.... You heard everything, you know. Q From that was the time you got to Europe... or just after you got into Germany? A After we got in here... in France. Q What did you expect to see there? Did you have any idea of what... ? A I didn't have the least idea... until I saw it. Lk And what was the mood? Did you know you'll were going to come up on a camp? A No, we didn't. We were just pushing, you know. Gaining... you know, pushing the Germans back you know... just fighting them and pushing them back. And you'll just ran into the m3qm camp? A Just came into it And so you'll weren't expecting it? You weren't even thinking about what you'd find? It was a surprise? And you don't remember the date that you got there? A No air, I sure don't. Do you remember, can you tell me anything about remembering what the camp looked like or the sounds that were there when you'all were walking up on it? A Well, I tell you, it was cold. I recloon the Germans must have shut it down or some- thing, because there was bodies half burnt and everything's in incinerators, and it was just a great big dirty fence, oh ten or fifteen foot high with barbed wire and everything.... to where there was no way they could escape from it. Was the gate closed when you'all came up on it? A The gate was ... Q Were there any sounds coming out of the camp? Was anybody alive? A No, there wasn't nobody alive then at that .... when we went in there, -5- L C Gillespie okay, and so you .. you really didn't see any live prisoners? I did not) A I aid)see a live prisoner ... (? inaudible to positive or negative reply) And did... what did you think about ... you didn't see any guards? Any Germans or anything? At that time? A They had left, and so everybody - escept for the American unit that was going through - nothing was alive in the camp. What I saw... was part of them bodies, that big mountain of bodies ... what I saw wasn't nobody, alive. Did you know who they were? A No. Q Was there any identification? A There wsnsn 't no identification, no clothes, * they just plumb naked. They was old, little bit of bodies , they was just - just plain grown people, old people, young people, on down to kids and babies. Was there a lot of children? A Well, yes, there was a lot where they could throw them higher, er sumpin. Q And they were mostly skin and bones? A They was skin and bones. Q What qas you... how did you react to this? A It just made me sick, I just couldn't .... I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. Q And your feelings? Your feelings then were pretty strong? A Sure,and you always have that feeling of it. ...youain't going to git it out of your mind, that's one thing. You are still fighting? A uh huh, people doing human beings like that. That's worse than it's awful. Q And you had that feeling then when you .... did you feel ike these were human beings that were stacked up? You could tell that? A Sure. . -6- 1 C Gillespie You could tell that way personally? You felt that way personally? A Sure.. Q It hurt you just to see it? Have you been able to answer the questions... or have you * asked yourself the question: what kind of people would do something like this? Or, did that just ... ? * well, I just asked myself... what was they bound to be... just plain made people, crazy, they had to he crazy or something to ... not have respect for people. Did you-all, did you talk about this with anybody? AS you went through? A No sirm. no we didn't. I reckon everybody just kept it to themselves, seeing what it was and just swallowed it down and kept it to his ownself. I know I DID. Q So you didn't relieve your tension in wany way? Or your bad feelings in any way? Did you have a buddy that you talked about this to later on? Anybody in your unit? A Well... Q Just over a beer or something? A No, now and then we might just say something, kmxkx like I'll never forget that, and that's it, we'd let it go at that, and try to forget it. It's just hard to talk about. Q Okay. And did anybody, did anybody after that business going through the camps, aid anyboay try to get out of unit, or try to, you know, did that cause them to break up ... ? A No, I reckon not, I don't recall none. Not in my company, XJ(MyX they didn't. Q Did anybody else ... did you, you say you had a real strong feeling, and you sort of teared up now, do you remember if you teared up then or anything? A I don't know. You don't remember. But your main memory is just you wanted to get out? Get through there and get away from the camp? ù We was on the go, we were in a half-track, jeep, and foot soldiers, and we just just kept... just like a town . When we hit a town , we hit it, and went on through it, just kept going. ù Okay. Q Cause we had the MPS and were told to mop up back up force or something, and -9- L C Gillespie New, let me ask you something, that a;gain you may not be able to figure Would you, say you, you bad some 12 to 15 yr old boys and girls, would you be able to deal with it... talk to them about it? 't, -~ VD,0 A Suxe.,;%;~ taught it in school, but ,0 should learn it, that I was there, I saw and you should see it too. Q Do you consider a religious person? A Well, thats sort of a hard question, ain't it? I'm on the borderline, let's p it thataway. Q When you west through the camp, and you were pressing through there, did yout do you remember thinking anything about ... the idea of God or about the idea of religion? Religious ideas when you were going through there? Any wmxkk questions you asked yourself? A I just thought how in the world people could be that cruel, and live... that God woul let them live to be that cruel to do that to people? -.r. 0 LID Q Have you ever been able to answer that yet? Or is that question still the same? A Still the same. To me. Q Do you remember having any thoughts ... being you would say were irreligious? Or.. A No, no. Q Or being angry at God... did you think this was all people's work, or that A It was Hitler and his army work ... I knew that. I knew it wasn't nobody else but him What if you weren't really religious? wouia you have 9tak felt any different when you saw those bodies and everything in terms of .... or was it your religious ... A If I wasn't religious or - say a gangster, say one of the mean men or something, it YOU THINK IT would have affected anybody? A It would have affected anybody. I be-lieve. Anybody who's got any human dignity for himself, sure it would Have you wondered, you say you are sort of on the borderline being religious, or you my be religious, if you ... have you ever wondered if you would have been able to -15 - I C Gillespie A .... just throwed in, and they had cut the gas off or got blowed up, or something, anyway some of the doors were open ... you could see as you went through. And some of them was closed, I didn't know where there was anything in it or what, so we want on through. We had a unit come back and do know that they went in there and dug a big trenc and hm*ed them. I don't know what you call them.... Grave registration.... Is there anything more that you want to make or say, or make anyjstatement that ~x we haven't covered, that you think might be important to put in there? A No, that's about all that I know. That's the nearest truth I know of what I saw an d ~Iz~--You know. Mr. Gillespie, thank you very much, thank you. Ruth Scheinberg, transcriber Nov. 17, 1981