Jewish soldier liberator on first jeep to Buchenwald

September 1, 2009 | Weimar (Buchenwald), Germany | Vetting explained

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My father, Alexander Breuer, was born in Austria and barely escaped in January 1940. In short, as a German speaking "enemy alien" he was unable to enlist, but was drafted into the U.S. army and sent to Europe, attached to a military intelligence unit.

One story we remember- as they were about to embark from England, the officer ran through a list of questions which included: "Does anyone have any reason to believe the Germans wouild have copies of their fingerprints?" My father raised his hand - having been a student after the Anschluss, and the officer didn't know what to do with him. They held him back from embarking while they tried to decide how to handle it. They offerred him a choice of shipping out (and likely being sent to the Pacific theater) or going into Europe. Since he, after all, a refugee who had lived under Hitler for 2 years and knew what the fight was about, was highly motivated, he chose to go to Europe. (This is in addition to making the decision whether to identify himself as a Jew on his dogtags - something that each Jewish soldier had to resolve for himself - it insured either a Jewish burial or sure death as a Jewish prisoner in Nazi hands).

He was interviewed during the U.S. State Department gathering of American liberators of the death camps:

http://sage.library.emory.edu/data1/Sage/0608/01/00/CF/LC00/06080100CFLC00003001000.pdf

The interview shows that, as a M.I. soldier , he was sent behind enemy lines to help negotiate the surrender of Weimar. He was on the first jeep into Buchenwald (nextdoor to weimar) with the mayor and an officer. As far as I understand it, this was the first U.S. jeep into any concentration camp in Europe. He was awarded a Bronze star for this. I have a big group photo of him with his M.I. unit. Also soldier pictures of various kinds.

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