| When asked about this image, Sorrin revealed, "Eisenhower came because they had a complaint from the United States. He was the Chief of Staff in Washington and the Truman administration was receiving complaints that the food, housing, clothing was inadequate for the Jews. That there was an insensitivity on the part of the military government to the needs of Jews. The underlining responsibility for all displaced persons was with the United States army. So Eisenhower came in response and the Jewish camp he picked was this big camp outside of Munich, which was one of the camps at that time.
I was asked to show him around the installation, to brief him on conditions. He came in an early morning, around 9:00. Every ten or fifteen paces, you know, they had two soldiers, you know, on either side of the road. Roads were closed, nobody could travel then. They had checked all the housing. It was an incredible security exercise and Eisenhower drove up in this enormous thirty-foot-long Mercedes, one of those open Mercedes. It had belonged to some Goring or Hitler. [Eisenhower] came with a whole retinue of generals: McNarny and Truscott and, oh the names--just three stars, two stars, four stars. All kinds of people.
I showed him around the camp. I remember, I was only twenty-six and I was a little bit flustered about how should I react. I was in a uniform. I was not in the military. I didn't know whether to salute or to greet, you know. But he was very nice, although austere. You looked into that face, it was a face, you know, of command. You looked into those blue eyes and you knew he was the sort of fellow who was accustomed to military command. You knew it. But he was pleasant and inquiring. He had a series of questions. We had a briefing all laid out for him. We took him to the various places.
We took him into one of the synagogues. We took him in to show him around, to schools, hospitals, warehouses for food, kitchen facilities, whatever we had in this particular camp. When he walked into the synagogue he took his hat off and he put it under his elbow in the military fashion and I think it was General Truscott who said to him, 'General, in a synagogue you don't take your hat off.' And we also had him in a school. One of the schools was not very far from here and I think I told you this story. The children, when he walked in, had been trying to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" and they learned it in Yiddish. They didn't learn it in the Yiddish language but they learned it phonetically in Yiddish and they were singing it and they had botched it so badly that Eisenhower turned to me and asked me what is it they're singing. Because he walked in and they burst into this thing in his honor. The Jews were unbelievably enamored of America, their liberators, and of course of this general. I think I had to tell him, 'They're singing The Star Spangled Banner.' 'Oh,' he said. Specter, the principal or the head master of our school asked me, 'What did he say?' I said, 'He said it's [gebene]zeer sheyn, so beautiful.' I didn't have the heart to tell him he didn't recognize it. The kids were so enthusiastic. It was a memorable visit for me. I'm glad this guy took these pictures. I had no idea, he came up to me the next day in a week or so."
Interview by Jean Loeb Lettofsky and David Mandel, March 3, 1980. |
