Chapter 10–the chapter I dreaded
Ever since talking to Joe, and especially every since going through the book he gave me called the Buchenwald Report, I dreaded writing this chapter. There simply is no escaping the disgusting, awful, indescribable nature of a place like Buchenwald. I am writing history, even on a very small and very personal scale, so it is critical to me that what I write be accurate and that it accurately convey what Joe’s experience was. Joe is a kind and sweet and gentle and forgiving man, and he has not been overly graphic or detailed in relaying to me what he went through. Some of the details had to be pulled out from him some pieced together from what others have written, including the victims as recorded in the Buchenwald report. I tried to be true to Joe’s experience and his pretty much alone and so I have not told so much of the truly incredible horrors that many other victims experienced. If you are interested, please get a copy of the Buchenwald Report.
My challenge was to convey to the readers a sense of the disgusting filth and deadening experience that these young men went through–without turning off the reader or making it unsuitable for young audiences. I’d appreciate if any reader has suggestions on how to manage that narrow road and improve on what I have attempted.
Chapter 9: The bombing: “I thought I was dead”
This chapter tells the story of the August 24, 1944 air raid on Buchenwald. Although it is an event that only took a few hours, for Joe it is one of the most powerful memories of his experiences and the one time in all these adventures when he was certain he would not survive. The absolute terror of being caught in the middle of a huge bombing attack is almost unimaginable and I tried to capture what Joe, in his own quiet voice, conveyed to me. I also wanted to tell this story from two perspectives. One being the American bomber crews flying high above Germany and the other, of course, the experiences below as the bombs were dropped. The remarkable accuracy of the daylight bombing attacks in the stage of the war is a key part of this story and if that had not happened, I wouldn’t be telling this story because Joe wouldn’t be here to tell it. Joe and his fellows were within about a quarter mile of the factory buildings that were attacked and experienced the awesome destructive power of over 600,000 pounds of high explosives and incendiaries.
I am fortunate in trying to write a little history at this time in having the internet as such as resource. It was through the websites of the bombing groups of the Eighth Air Force that I was able to uncover many of the specific and telling details of the bombing raid from the perspective of those young men who dropped the bombs. Again, a sad reminder that these were dangerous days, and not just for the unintended victims hunkering down on the ground in Buchenwald.
Chapter 8 posted–a real descent into Hell
I just posted chapter 8 which details Joe’s arrival and first hours in Buchenwald. This was by far the most difficult chapter to write so far. I spent a lot more time on it than the other chapters and a lot more outside research. Joe’s experience of Buchenwald was narrow and of course limited to what he and his fellow aviators were subjected to. But obviously there is a whole lot more to Buchenwald than what Joe and the other flyers experienced. Indeed, while what they went through was horrible almost beyond words, they were spared the fate of thousands of others and the torments of many others. My primary source for information about Buchenwald is “The Buchenwald Report.” This incredible book in the version translated by David Hackett is the first hand record of many inmates. Immediately after the discovery of the concentration camp by Patton’s Third Army, the US Army sent intelligence officers to document and record what they found and to conduct first person interviews with the inmates. Their immediate purpose was to capture evidence for the war crimes trials that were certain to come at the end of the war. The Buchenwald Report is the compilation of these first hand reports.
I have struggled with how much of what was going on in Buchenwald, not personally experienced by Joe, to include in his story. I see the Joe Moser story as a fabulous opportunity to take the experiences of one American hero and put it in context of the greater picture going on around it. But, above all, it has to be an autobiography, and the stray too far from Joe’s story to tell of the broader picture is to lose the essence of Joe’s story and to serve a different purpose. So, my plan is to limit the information to mostly what Joe and his fellow flyers experienced with only limited references to the even deeper horrors occurring around them.
Again, should you stumble on this site, or if you are a returning visitor, I am always interested in your thoughts and ideas.
