Joe Riha Holocaust Liberator Testimony

Joe Riha Author

11/05/2024 Added

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Holocaust liberator Joe Riha talks about his experiences during World War II.

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[00:00:00.180]Hello, we are here with Joe Riha. It is Monday, August 10th, 2009, and
[00:00:06.920]my name is Beth Seldin Dotan.
[00:00:10.120]And I'm very, very glad to be here with you
[00:00:12.640]today. If you could state your name and spell it, please.
[00:00:15.800]Okay, my name is Joe 'Pat' Riha, and Pat's the nickname,
[00:00:22.120]and I'm 91 years old. What else do you need?
[00:00:26.600]Tell me the date when you were born.
[00:00:28.320]June 6th, 1918.
[00:00:31.360]All right. And I think I forgot to mention we're in Omaha, Nebraska today. Yes.
[00:00:37.540]And if you could tell me about where you lived before the service
[00:00:44.940]and how you ended up being in the service, in World War II.
[00:00:48.980]I lived two blocks away from here, straight over. And I was drafted.
[00:00:56.580]On May 15th, I was drafted. And on May 18th, I went into the service.
[00:01:02.140]And May 18th is a date that my grandmother got married on that date.
[00:01:10.080]And then someone else in the family got married on that date.
[00:01:15.180]Same date, May 18th, so it's kind of a big day, you know.
[00:01:18.440]On May 20th, I went down to Offutt air base to be inducted into
[00:01:25.260]the service. I was drafted.
[00:01:29.180]Great. What did you do before the service?
[00:01:32.220]I worked for the National Park Service.
[00:01:36.060]And what was your job?
[00:01:37.860]I ended up being a regional purchasing agent for them. We had a . . . It was the Midwest region - known as the Midwest region.
[00:01:46.212]And we had: Tetons, Yellowstone...
[00:01:50.520]In the Midwest, the whole Midwest region is what it
[00:01:53.640]was, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and all those.
[00:01:59.100]And while working there, I approved the payments and
[00:02:04.320]all the bills on the new Arch at St. Louis.
[00:02:07.980]And I had 39 years and nine months with the service,
[00:02:12.140]the National Park Service.
[00:02:14.340]The only job I had, to be honest.
[00:02:17.580]When I got out of high school, I went to Van Sant Business School.
[00:02:21.680]And then I didn't even take a civil service test. I got drafted.
[00:02:27.400]Not drafted, but I was playing softball against the team.
[00:02:32.020]And one of the bosses asked me what I do for a living and I told him...
[00:02:35.900]take shorthands, and so he hired me as a stenographer.
[00:02:43.140]So how old were you when you were drafted to the Army?
[00:02:47.240]26, I think. I think it was 26, I'm not sure.
[00:02:53.590]Well, if you could tell us a little bit about what unit you were drafted to,
[00:02:58.010]and the process when you went in, and where you were sent in the beginning.
[00:03:03.930]When I was drafted, I went down to what was Fort Crook.
[00:03:08.750]And then from there, I got sent to Jefferson Barracks.
[00:03:13.630]Can you tell me the states as well?
[00:03:16.070]Jefferson Barracks was at St. Louis, Missouri, just outside
[00:03:20.650]of St. Louis, Missouri.
[00:03:23.250]And I ended up there for almost two and a half years.
[00:03:31.410]And don't ask me what I did.
[00:03:35.590]I worked in the grocery store.
[00:03:39.890]They had a commissary, and part-time here in Omaha, when I was working,
[00:03:45.910]I worked in the grocery store. I don't know.
[00:03:48.550]My boss here in Omaha was an officer down there at St. Louis, and he met me.
[00:03:58.330]And he told me he was going to get me to stay at the place,
[00:04:01.150]and so I ended up staying there more than two years, working in the
[00:04:05.650]grocery store, if you will.
[00:04:07.850]And then what happened after that?
[00:04:09.490]Well, then June 6th, I think it was June 6th.
[00:04:14.090]Which year?
[00:04:17.550]I think it was 44. I think it was 44. I'm not...
[00:04:21.770]Yeah, 44. I think it was 44.
[00:04:26.430]And we got all of us that were in the Air Force got
[00:04:28.310]drafted into the infantry.
[00:04:31.610]And we were sent to Texas for two weeks of training,
[00:04:34.410]and then from two weeks after that, we were sent overseas.
[00:04:38.410]And I spent one day on the front lines, and then I got called back,
[00:04:42.350]and they were going to make me a civilian, so they said.
[00:04:46.250]And I said, no, no, no.
[00:04:49.110]Because I had enough points to come home.
[00:04:52.090]And they said, no, you've got to stay here.
[00:04:54.350]You're classified as a stenographer in civilian life.
[00:04:58.690]And so that's how I got into the war crimes team.
[00:05:01.710]I was drafted that way while I was overseas.
[00:05:05.070]Like I say on the front lines only two days, but that was it.
[00:05:09.190]Tell me, let's back up a little bit.
[00:05:10.830]If you could tell me about what you knew about what was going
[00:05:14.230]on while you were stateside.
[00:05:17.510]And what kind of training you were having with the Air Force, you said?
[00:05:22.770]Yes.
[00:05:24.450]Well, in the Air Force, like I say, I spent 30
[00:05:28.030]days just turning out of my left foot from the right foot.
[00:05:31.050]You know, we make right turn, left turns.
[00:05:32.990]And then you spent 30 days at basic training.
[00:05:36.670]And then they assigned job from there.
[00:05:39.190]And that's how my boss here saw me in St. Louis.
[00:05:45.530]And he said, well, we'll get you on the staff down there.
[00:05:49.290]And that's how that happened.
[00:05:52.210]So what unit was this under?
[00:05:56.500]All I ever referred to was Jefferson Barracks. Uh, huh. Yeah.
[00:06:01.500]It was part of the Air Force.
[00:06:03.820]Most of the people there at Jefferson Barracks went into
[00:06:07.380]the Air Force like gunnery school or pilot school, pilot training. You know.
[00:06:12.460]It was just a basic training center.
[00:06:14.940]And you had to use your left and right foot.
[00:06:17.600]I mean, that's what it amounted to.
[00:06:21.510]All right.
[00:06:21.930]Well, we'll go back to 1944 when you were sent overseas. Uh, huh.
[00:06:26.230]Where was it that you were sent exactly before they sent you to the front line?
[00:06:31.790]Well, we landed in Paris.
[00:06:33.950]And we stayed overnight.
[00:06:35.610]And then the next day, I was in Germany now.
[00:06:39.370]I don't know exactly in Germany where it was.
[00:06:44.190]But that that's I didn't spend too much time in France.
[00:06:47.070]I know that.
[00:06:47.590]It was a couple of days.
[00:06:49.150]And then they assigned us to units out in Germany.
[00:06:53.130]How did you travel there?
[00:06:55.218]Jeep.
[00:06:56.550]Mm-hmm.
[00:06:57.010]Yeah. Yeah.
[00:06:58.490]Okay.
[00:06:58.990]They took us - always on a Jeep.
[00:07:01.110]They had it hauled us around.
[00:07:02.990]Yeah.
[00:07:04.930]All right.
[00:07:06.070]Well, let's talk then more about your service as
[00:07:09.210]a stenographer once they put you in that unit.
[00:07:11.370]Why don't you tell me about that?
[00:07:15.710]Uh, huh. Well, basically, I mean, that working at the
[00:07:18.810]grocery store, I just never did like that.
[00:07:21.530]I mean, I figured, you know, I'm a soldier, not a grocery clerk.
[00:07:25.630]But then I went overseas.
[00:07:27.430]And then right after the war ended, I went to Dachau.
[00:07:34.010]And we lived in Munich and commuted back and forth from Munich.
[00:07:38.290]Because they wouldn't let us stay there.
[00:07:39.990]I mean, and we had to change clothes every day.
[00:07:42.590]I mean, we got new uniforms every day because of
[00:07:44.970]the stench and that that was down at the camp
[00:07:47.830]at Dachau camp, if you will.
[00:07:50.970]All right.
[00:07:51.510]So tell me in May 1945 or April 1945, where were
[00:08:00.230]you located and what was the unit at the end of April?
[00:08:04.290]It was the war crimes investigating team.
[00:08:06.950]Okay.
[00:08:08.410]And we started in Munich and then just moved around.
[00:08:13.910]But I think it was 29 days.
[00:08:17.330]I want to say 29 days that we stayed at Munich and
[00:08:20.970]commuted to Dachau every day.
[00:08:23.770]Okay.
[00:08:24.890]For to investigate former officers and some
[00:08:29.010]of the inmates that were in the camp.
[00:08:33.310]All right.
[00:08:34.070]I'm going to ask you some questions because I
[00:08:36.530]think that this is a really important piece of history
[00:08:41.110]that I've certainly never heard from this point of view.
[00:08:45.630]And so if you can tell me what you remember from those 29
[00:08:50.950]days, what your impressions were
[00:08:55.210]and if it's too difficult that you don't have to share with me.
[00:08:57.950]But the first time you walked in there, if you remember
[00:09:02.730]the date exactly when you went to see Dachau the first time?
[00:09:07.010]That I can't remember, but I thought it was April.
[00:09:10.950]I'm not sure.
[00:09:12.390]But when we come in there, we were warned that
[00:09:16.890]these people, prisoners, if you will, they might attack you.
[00:09:22.270]So we just grabbed our bags and we threw them.
[00:09:24.250]And we went upstairs into school where we were
[00:09:26.590]interviewing or taking testimony from these people that were inmates.
[00:09:32.170]And we stayed there 29 days just back and forth.
[00:09:36.070]Then we'd go out and get inmates.
[00:09:38.430]There was an interpreter with us and then there was two
[00:09:41.290]or three investigating officers.
[00:09:43.430]And I was one of the, I was, I call myself a
[00:09:46.690]stenographer, I mean, you know.
[00:09:48.770]And I worked with Colonel Chavez.
[00:09:53.390]And we interviewed people.
[00:09:55.030]I mean, some of these inmates would tell us who people were.
[00:09:58.550]And they were still in a camp that were kind of mistreating
[00:10:04.390]them, if you will.
[00:10:05.870]Can you tell me a little bit more about the Colonel?
[00:10:09.870]Well, he, as I recall, I thought he was a judge advocate
[00:10:14.630]in the state of Texas.
[00:10:16.770]I'm not sure.
[00:10:18.050]Dave Chavez was his name.
[00:10:20.130]I just, he was real good, though, I mean.
[00:10:28.020]And he was the person interrogating the people
[00:10:30.220]and questioning them.
[00:10:31.140]He was the boss.
[00:10:31.920]He was a colonel, yes.
[00:10:33.840]And then we had an interpreter.
[00:10:36.280]And then there was two of us that were stenographers.
[00:10:39.480]And then we had a jeep driver, if you will.
[00:10:42.420]That was our team. Um, hum.
[00:10:44.840]What do you remember about the people who were with the Nazis?
[00:10:50.200]These were people that you interviewed as well, I understand.
[00:10:54.360]We, we interviewed, I think we had, I think we had two officers that were
[00:11:01.240]still in the camp that were caught at the camp.
[00:11:03.980]And we interviewed those.
[00:11:05.260]The other officers that later on were condemned, I mean,
[00:11:09.300]we never interviewed those.
[00:11:13.300]We took testimony mostly from the inmates or the captives.
[00:11:18.620]I don't know what you'd rather call them, but
[00:11:20.000]they were people that were in there for some reason.
[00:11:23.960]The Germans threw them in the camp, so so.
[00:11:26.960]Are you able to recall some of the discussion, the things
[00:11:31.480]that they gave testimony,
[00:11:32.760]or do you feel uncomfortable sharing that?
[00:11:35.680]Well, there was things that were done.
[00:11:39.140]I mean, for example, they had a building, and they called
[00:11:43.080]it the shower room.
[00:11:44.540]And it had seven shower heads.
[00:11:48.500]Well, they'd take these people in there.
[00:11:50.740]Then the people thought they were going to get a shower.
[00:11:54.600]Instead, gas would come and kill them.
[00:11:57.940]That's how the Nazis treated the people, I mean, you know.
[00:12:03.140]Then one time we had to go out and get an inmate,
[00:12:07.960]and he was walking back with me and something hit my heel,
[00:12:10.700]and I just kind of turned around, and he dropped dead.
[00:12:13.420]It was you know things like that, I mean, yeah.
[00:12:21.670]What was the process?
[00:12:27.770]I'm repeating myself a little bit, but I'm just trying to get an understanding
[00:12:32.410]of what it was like for the American troops to be there at that time.
[00:12:38.150]What was the process of helping the people after the liberation?
[00:12:44.650]Well, there was another Army group there.
[00:12:46.870]I don't know what they were doing,
[00:12:49.330]but they were trying to get rid of the people out of the camp.
[00:12:53.910]I mean, wherever they lived, they tried to make arrangements
[00:12:56.190]to move them out of the camp so that the camp could be closed.
[00:13:00.270]But I don't know if it's a marker down there now or not.
[00:13:04.150]I think it is. I think it's set aside.
[00:13:06.390]I think the German set it aside is a place to see, I guess you want to call it that.
[00:13:12.110]But I'm not sure about that.
[00:13:14.010]Once I got out of there, I was gone.
[00:13:16.450]I mean, I didn't think about it too much.
[00:13:20.370]Can you tell me any more about these interviews of the
[00:13:24.050]people who were there?
[00:13:26.670]I know, again, that these are recollections
[00:13:29.130]that are hard to think back upon.
[00:13:35.320]Well, they all just about were the same, you know.
[00:13:38.840]We tried to get different stories and things like that.
[00:13:42.920]But one thing that I'll remember for a long time
[00:13:47.600]was that there was one lady that was in there, and she was a German.
[00:13:53.180]And I don't know what she was doing in the camp.
[00:13:55.160]I have no idea why she was in the camp.
[00:13:58.080]But so we started interviewing her, wanting to know what she was doing.
[00:14:01.640]But she told us that she worked for the German Army, and she was in England,
[00:14:06.400]and she stood on the corner and would tell the Air Force
[00:14:09.140]where the different buildings were.
[00:14:12.180]And then they would go, the Germans would go and bomb it.
[00:14:15.240]How she got in our camp or that, I don't know.
[00:14:17.580]But we had a chance just to interview her.
[00:14:19.900]And we were talking to her through our interpreter,
[00:14:22.780]figuring that she was German, you know.
[00:14:25.320]And finally, the colonel asked her a question.
[00:14:27.900]It was a strange question, asked her a question.
[00:14:30.340]And she gave him an answer, and he says to the interpreter,
[00:14:33.540]she's a damn liar.
[00:14:36.000]And she said, I'm no liar.
[00:14:38.620]She'd come right back at me, I'm no liar.
[00:14:41.140]The colonel says to the interpreter, get out.
[00:14:43.280]And we went on with the interview.
[00:14:45.880]And they arrested her, and I don't know,
[00:14:48.860]whatever happened to the lady or anything like that.
[00:14:50.980]But I mean, it was a strange deal.
[00:14:53.760]I mean, she said she's no liar and spoke in English, you know.
[00:14:57.880]So the colonel got rid of our interpreter because he
[00:15:01.300]wasn't all that good. But . . . [unclear]
[00:15:05.540]We didn't interview too many of the inmates, I mean, you know,
[00:15:15.700]because it was the same story.
[00:15:18.360]Some would tell you how they persecuted the women, if you will.
[00:15:22.540]I mean, that were in there and, well,
[00:15:25.740]you saw the pictures where they stacked the bodies outside,
[00:15:29.520]loaded them up with boxcars and set them out, and things like that, I mean.
[00:15:34.800]During that time that you were interviewing people,
[00:15:39.460]were they trying to clear out and help people?
[00:15:43.490]Yes, uh-huh, yeah yeah yeah.
[00:15:45.768]Our military was there making arrangements,
[00:15:48.140]you know, like I say, that was another group.
[00:15:50.740]I didn't come in contact with them at all.
[00:15:53.340]We just had our own cubicle, if you will, and went from there.
[00:15:58.320]I understand that Eisenhower was there in April as well.
[00:16:02.100]Were you there at the same time at any point?
[00:16:03.720]No, no, no, no. We come in right behind him.
[00:16:06.720]He was there, and we come in with our team right behind him.
[00:16:09.140]He had left when we arrived.
[00:16:14.470]How do you feel that the work that you did
[00:16:19.990]was beneficial or influential in the trials later on?
[00:16:26.720]Well, I figured to turn about fair play.
[00:16:30.280]I mean, if you're going to kill somebody,
[00:16:32.480]you better be ready to get killed by yourself.
[00:16:34.880]I mean, I had no use for the German people at all down there.
[00:16:39.980]I mean, I just had a hard feeling for them.
[00:16:43.420]I don't know why, but I did,
[00:16:46.240]because there were some Bohemian people, if you will, were killed.
[00:16:49.540]I mean, you know, Czech people, if you will.
[00:16:52.280]And I figured that's unfair to treat people like that.
[00:16:56.540]I mean, it's just one of those things, you know.
[00:17:00.560]Tell us about the books that you had.
[00:17:03.800]How many books that you...
[00:17:05.160]Twenty-nine steno notebooks.
[00:17:08.320]While I was overseas, yeah.
[00:17:10.020]And what happened to those?
[00:17:11.280]That I don't know. I wanted the books, but they said no.
[00:17:13.980]They took them, and what they ever did with them,
[00:17:16.140]I don't know if they put them someplace,
[00:17:18.040]or they burned them or what.
[00:17:20.000]I never did get them back.
[00:17:23.440]Do you remember who it was who took them, particularly?
[00:17:26.040]No, I don't have any idea. I don't have any idea, huh-uh.
[00:17:29.780]No. No.
[00:17:32.100]I know we transcribed them, and the colonel would say,
[00:17:36.940]don't throw the book away. You know, keep the books.
[00:17:39.980]We ended up having another court reporter, if you will.
[00:17:43.640]That's what they kind of called us court reporters.
[00:17:46.940]We had two of us on the team,
[00:17:50.480]and there was three officers besides the colonel
[00:17:52.920]interviewed, you know, people that was in the camp.
[00:17:57.700]Was there anyone that you developed a relationship with in that team,
[00:18:00.780]or any of the people that you interviewed that you kept in touch with?
[00:18:06.060]No, it was just our one team, and we all lived, you know.
[00:18:09.880]There was two captains, and I remember one captain, Walker,
[00:18:14.360]and the other captain, I can't think of his name for love or high water,
[00:18:18.140]and then there was a sergeant, staff sergeant down at St. Louis. That I . . .
[00:18:24.740]Once in a while, when I was traveling to St. Louis,
[00:18:27.380]I'd meet up with him, but other than that, you know,
[00:18:31.120]like I said, we just were one unit now, by ourselves.
[00:18:37.060]And what happened after the 29 days that you were in Dachau - or interviewing?
[00:18:41.180]Well, then we went back to Karlsruhe, Germany,
[00:18:46.560]and we would get a...
[00:18:49.220]We mostly were working atrocities against the Air Force people,
[00:18:54.320]our Air Force people, and if someone found a case in another city,
[00:19:01.160]we'd go over to that city and interview the people over there
[00:19:03.880]that were charged with the atrocity of killing the Air Force person.
[00:19:09.100]We did that.
[00:19:11.540]How long did you stay in the service then?
[00:19:15.200]I got out, I think in May of 1946.
[00:19:18.760]I think lacking four months of four years, I was in the service.
[00:19:24.460]And what were you doing until 1946? You were in Germany the whole time?
[00:19:29.240]Yes, uh-huh, yes, uh-huh, yeah.
[00:19:31.880]What other places did you interview in, and do you remember?
[00:19:37.440]Well, no, not really.
[00:19:40.990]I mean, it was, like you said, we headquartered in Munich,
[00:19:46.070]and then we would go from Munich.
[00:19:48.050]It would be like from Omaha to Offutt air base.
[00:19:51.010]I mean, you know, we wouldn't go too far away from Munich.
[00:19:54.830]We stayed in that area.
[00:19:56.250]Whenever they would find someone that was a killer, if you will,
[00:20:01.790]that killed an Air Force person like.
[00:20:03.870]Then we would go interview him, and then charges were filed against him
[00:20:08.870]by somebody else, I don't know, whoever handled
[00:20:12.650]that end of it, I mean, we never did know, I don't think.
[00:20:15.990]We never did find out whatever happened to some of those people
[00:20:18.190]that we took testimony from.
[00:20:22.270]And what happened when you came back stateside?
[00:20:26.710]I got married.
[00:20:28.870]Who did you marry?
[00:20:31.230]There was some lady by the name of Helen.
[00:20:34.330]Helen, and what was her maiden name?
[00:20:36.510]Janousek.
[00:20:37.350]Janousek, could you spell that for me?
[00:20:39.850]J-A-N-O-U-S-E-K.
[00:20:42.970]And where was Helen from?
[00:20:45.890]Omaha. She's from Omaha, yeah.
[00:20:48.830]All right, and what did you do once you settled back in the states?
[00:20:52.590]I went back to work with the National Park Service.
[00:20:55.770]I got married, when did I get married?
[00:20:58.910]May 18th.
[00:20:59.510]May 18th, the same day.
[00:21:00.990]Yeah, grandma... when I got drafted into the service,
[00:21:05.330]and then we got married on that day, May 18th. Yeah so.
[00:21:10.390]And how long did you work with the Park Service?
[00:21:15.790]Lacking four months and 40 years.
[00:21:19.410]Great.
[00:21:21.290]And can you tell us about your family?
[00:21:23.730]You were married to Helen, and who are your children?
[00:21:26.910]I have five children, Pepper, Patty, Tommy, Terry, and Buddy.
[00:21:35.030]That's all their nicknames.
[00:21:36.830]Okay, can you give me their regular names, too?
[00:21:40.950]Joseph, Patty, Tommy, Terry, Bernadette.
[00:21:48.310]Great. And does everyone live in Omaha now?
[00:21:51.610]Bernadette lives in Nebraska City.
[00:21:56.910]And then the others, they live in Ralston.
[00:22:03.050]Joe lives in Ralston.
[00:22:07.170]Well, I don't know if it's Omaha or not.
[00:22:09.570]Yeah, they live in Ralston.
[00:22:12.530]Great.
[00:22:13.830]Yeah, and Buddy lives in Nebraska City.
[00:22:19.190]And Tommy lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
[00:22:21.550]Very good.
[00:22:23.050]I've got 'em all accounted for now.
[00:22:26.210]Tell me if you have any other things that you feel are important
[00:22:32.890]to talk about your time during the service, during the war?
[00:22:38.450]Any other stories?
[00:22:39.710]I am going to talk to you a little bit about your album
[00:22:42.130]and have you tell me about some of those photos in a minute.
[00:22:46.330]But is there anything that you want to say
[00:22:47.990]that you feel is very, very important about that time?
[00:22:53.050]Well, not really.
[00:22:54.730]I mean, you know, I just figured you're drafted,
[00:22:57.850]you're in the service, you've got to serve it
[00:22:59.710]and do what they want you to do and you go home
[00:23:02.590]because I didn't want to make a career in the military.
[00:23:05.630]That was it because I already had my career going.
[00:23:08.690]I was working for the government.
[00:23:10.410]I figured I might as well stay with it, you know.
[00:23:12.510]So other than that, no, not really.
[00:23:15.850]Okay, and did you serve in any other wars after that?
[00:23:22.750]No. No, no, no, no.
[00:23:23.930]One was enough.
[00:23:24.870]Okay.
[00:23:25.510]Yeah.
[00:23:26.550]Yeah, I would agree that one is one too many.
[00:23:30.990]All right.
[00:23:32.750]Let's, oh, if you could explain to us what we have here in front of us?
[00:23:40.090]That's my, all my military information.
[00:23:42.650]When I drafted and when I got out, so forth.
[00:24:08.020]Oh, okay.
[00:24:08.840]So March 13, 1946 was your release date.
[00:24:15.400]And then tell us about the picture here, if you could.
[00:24:20.340]Who is that?
[00:24:21.200]That's me at Jefferson Barracks.
[00:24:35.020]Good.
[00:24:36.980]All right.
[00:24:37.540]And if you could tell us about this album,
[00:24:39.680]and we'll show a couple of photos and have you explain.
[00:24:42.240]Well, this was a scrapbook that I started to make in the service.
[00:24:47.660]Some of the pictures in there I took and other pictures I got from the other
[00:24:52.840]teams that were around there taking pictures and sending them to me.
[00:24:57.840]What kind of camera did you have with you?
[00:25:00.320]Just a regular camera, little, one of those cheapies.
[00:25:06.380]Yeah, and there's an article in there, something about Dachau.
[00:25:11.300]I just picked up newspapers and stuff like that.
[00:25:14.940]And here's the...
[00:25:17.560]Can you explain the visitor's pass, why you had to have that and and ...
[00:25:22.760]Well, that's that's the only way we could get in when we come down from,
[00:25:26.760]when we were staying in Munich.
[00:25:29.360]We had to have a gate pass.
[00:25:31.540]They wouldn't let anyone in unless they had
[00:25:33.280]a gate pass and a reason for being there.
[00:25:53.810]So you collected the articles, or did your wife collect those?
[00:25:58.970]No, I collected those.
[00:26:00.050]These are most of the Army paper.
[00:26:05.270]We'd get them, you know, at our offices.
[00:26:08.570]And whenever there's an article in there about Dachau or a summary,
[00:26:11.950]maybe from World Herald, where I had articles in there,
[00:26:15.230]I'd just collect them out and put them in this scrapbook.
[00:26:25.800]Did you see the death train, or had it already been taken
[00:26:28.980]away before you arrived?
[00:26:32.200]No, no, the death train was still there. I mean, yeah . . .
[00:26:34.900]The bodies that you see in here, they were stacked outside the train.
[00:26:48.150]Those are some of the...
[00:26:50.250]I know 40, I thought there was more than that.
[00:26:58.410]Got the death sentence, but Bill's number 40, I don't know why that is.
[00:27:04.550]I thought there was 60 on trial at the time, but I guess not.
[00:27:07.530]I guess there was only 40.
[00:27:09.970]60 didn't get in the picture, I guess.
[00:27:45.050]Did you . . . When these people were being interviewed, did they have any remorse,
[00:27:49.630]or were they just matter of fact in their...
[00:27:52.670]No, they they just felt that they were doing the right thing.
[00:27:57.170]They weren't.
[00:28:12.170]Did you want to tell us anything about these pages?
[00:28:14.670]Well, some of these, I had taken by myself,
[00:28:19.990]but then there's others in there that were...
[00:28:22.570]The team took them, and I didn't take them,
[00:28:24.990]but then I just put footnotes about each one of them.
[00:28:29.930]That's the way it appeared when I was at the camp, if you will.
[00:28:57.450]How did you say you got my name?
[00:29:00.790]From Grace at the... Aaron Grace at the Omaha World Herald.
[00:29:06.450]I think... I don't know if you had called her,
[00:29:10.290]or after the dinner with the Heartland Honor Flights,
[00:29:16.770]there was a big article about the Honor Flight
[00:29:21.630]and the survivors who met liberators,
[00:29:24.710]and Aaron somehow contacted me that you had been in Dachau,
[00:29:33.830]so I'll have to look back and see what that email said.
[00:29:38.710]If I did it, I don't recall doing it. But I never made those trips to back to Washington.
[00:29:54.470]You mentioned that you had to change clothes every time you went in.
[00:29:59.230]Yes, yes.
[00:29:59.870]Can you tell us about that?
[00:30:01.490]Well, I mean, it smelled.
[00:30:03.790]I mean, it was richer clothes,
[00:30:05.150]and they didn't want us to carry out any diseases or anything, you know,
[00:30:08.870]so we'd get a clean uniform,
[00:30:12.330]go back to Munich, and then go back the next day with it.
[00:30:15.910]When we get ready to go back to Munich,
[00:30:18.650]we change clothes right there, leave the uniforms there,
[00:30:22.090]and back to Munich we go.
[00:30:24.770]It's from Dachau, yeah?
[00:30:27.110]That smelled a little bit.
[00:30:50.400]How were you able to deal with it emotionally,
[00:30:53.600]day after day, during that time?
[00:30:57.680]Well, the first, the first week was a little bit tough.
[00:31:00.640]I mean, it was hard, but after that, you got used to it.
[00:31:02.780]You just figured, well, you're doing your job, and that was it.
[00:31:05.680]I mean, you just... it could get to you.
[00:31:08.520]I mean, you know, listen to some of these people tell you,
[00:31:11.080]things that went on, you know.
[00:31:12.840]They didn't realize that human beings could do that.
[00:31:15.400]I mean, it was kind of surprising,
[00:31:17.260]but like that gas chamber, I mean, that shocked me.
[00:31:20.720]I couldn't believe it.
[00:31:22.080]I mean, I thought it was a shower when I walked into it,
[00:31:25.020]and here the shower heads were hooked to gas,
[00:31:27.800]and they just put the people in there, and... let 'em go.
[00:31:33.730]And they would stack them outside.
[00:31:35.330]I don't know where they hauled the bodies to or whatever.
[00:31:38.410]If they had an open cemetery, if you will, or...
[00:31:42.590]I don't know. I didn't...
[00:31:43.630]I just never paid that much attention to it.
[00:31:46.970]I believe there was a crematorium at Dachau.
[00:31:52.030]Maybe there was.
[00:31:53.170]I mean, you know, I'm not sure.
[00:31:55.430]I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
[00:32:00.300]Because it was still full when we left there.
[00:32:04.100]I mean, there were a lot of people there
[00:32:05.620]that haven't been sent back to their own country
[00:32:09.020]or own homes, you know.
[00:32:11.180]Yeah, I mean, see, here now, that's the picture.
[00:32:13.780]I got back from one of the schools or something.
[00:32:16.420]They took some of the pictures out of there, I think, so...
[00:32:43.020]Can you talk about this train?
[00:32:56.080]Yeah, they'd bring these bodies down
[00:32:58.620]from some of the other outlying camps.
[00:33:01.120]They had other camps there, I mean, you know.
[00:33:04.840]They'd load them in these boxcars
[00:33:06.560]and haul them there, and they...
[00:33:08.780]Did you say there was a crematorium there, and there is?
[00:33:11.980]Well, then that's what they were doing.
[00:33:13.180]They were taking them up to that place, I mean.
[00:33:16.940]Like I said, we didn't get involved in that at all.
[00:33:19.760]I mean, we had enough to do what we were doing.
[00:33:52.540]So, this is a picture of the crematorium?
[00:33:57.680]Yeah.
[00:33:59.520]Well, yeah, I guess we did go down there.
[00:34:02.020]Well, that's one of the teams took down there, you know.
[00:34:06.400]We got pictures, all of us that worked down there at the camp,
[00:34:09.660]the GIs, our GIs, what, they shared.
[00:34:13.520]We all shared everything together, I mean, you know.
[00:34:33.910]So, I see in your commentary you say 'This is a shower room
[00:34:37.890]what a joke.' Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:35:12.480]Let's just do two more.
[00:35:44.240]I might have you pause. Page.
[00:35:47.020]What happened?
[00:35:47.560]I didn't press record.
[00:35:48.560]Okay, I'm going to ask it again.
[00:35:51.620]Ready?
[00:35:52.400]Go ahead.
[00:35:55.260]You okay?
[00:35:56.200]All right, my last question is, if you have anything important
[00:35:59.540]that you would like to say to your family, to your grandchildren,
[00:36:03.180]or to those of us who need to learn from what
[00:36:05.480]happened during this time?
[00:36:09.970]Well, I'll say this.
[00:36:12.830]I mean, I just hope they don't have to do what I did,
[00:36:16.310]don't have the same experiences, if you will.
[00:36:24.250]It's a . . . Sometimes I don't sleep.
[00:36:27.790]I go back there, you know, and kind of fight it off a little bit.
[00:36:32.530]I mean, it works on you.
[00:36:33.750]You read something about it, and then it'll make you go back
[00:36:39.030]and figure you're sitting there taking dictation again, you know, or whatever.
[00:36:43.130]But other than that, no, I just, there's nothing
[00:36:47.090]wrong with the military,
[00:36:48.910]but I mean, it's a job that I could just never handle.
[00:36:53.470]I could never stay in the military.
[00:36:54.990]I just, one of those things.
[00:36:56.570]I wasn't cut out for military, if you will.
[00:37:03.150]I mean, Pepper was in the service, and Tommy didn't get drafted.
[00:37:08.370]Tommy didn't get drafted, no.
[00:37:10.330]But Pepper was in the service.
[00:37:11.430]He was great.
[00:37:16.380]Other than that, well, it's one of those things.
[00:37:21.940]Something you had to do, it happened, and you had to serve.
[00:37:24.980]That was it.
[00:37:25.980]I did my duties.
[00:37:26.920]And I figured that's it.
[00:37:29.140]So I had a good life.
[00:37:32.630]I mean, so... almost made 50 years of wedding life.
[00:37:40.030]Marriage life, if you will.
[00:37:44.390]It's one of those things.
[00:37:49.920]I appreciate you coming down.
[00:37:51.540]I really do.
[00:37:52.280]I mean, I'm surprised to even sitting here with you.
[00:37:59.560]May I have a copy of this, or will I get a copy of it, or whatever I mean?
[00:38:04.460]Absolutely.
[00:38:05.740]And we're very honored to have the time with you.
[00:38:08.340]I appreciate it.
[00:38:08.560]And it's such an important history to be able to record.
[00:38:11.140]I appreciate that.
[00:38:11.680]Thank you.
[00:38:12.500]Yeah, you betcha.
[00:38:13.780]That's right.
[00:38:14.720]Go.
[00:38:17.200]Should I call you Pep or Joe?
[00:38:19.480]Pep.
[00:38:19.780]Pep, could you introduce everybody who's in the picture?
[00:38:23.880]Peppers is on the left.
[00:38:25.940]Terry's right here by me.
[00:38:27.580]This is Darcy, granddaughter, and Michelle is Pepper's wife.
[00:38:32.860]Great.
[00:38:33.960]And how many grandchildren do you have altogether?
[00:38:36.240]Nineteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
[00:38:39.040]Oh, my goodness.
[00:38:40.380]That's fabulous.

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Joe Riha Holocaust Liberator Testimony

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