FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)For some time I have been researching material about World War II based on letters my parents wrote between 1941 and 1945. Max Shlian married Ruth Milnovsky in1942; they were born in Baltimore and lived there raising three children.
My father died in 1966 and my mother in 1967; I was 20 years old and busy starting my own family, but always taking these two suitcases of letters and war memorabilia with me during many moves over the years. In the early 1990’s I finally had a chance to begin reading and then transcribing the letters onto the computer. My goal is to put together a story of those years and events to pass on to my children and grandchildren
In 2001 I came across information on the 30th Infantry Division’s Web Site (my father’s outfit). On a message board, I read a posting from Peter Lantos; requesting any information about the military unit that had been involved in rescuing the people on a train near Farsleben, Germany in April 1945. He was five years old at the time and on that train.
I had remembered reading a paragraph about this incident in one of my father’s letters. Being Jewish himself, I wonder if this was the first time he was aware of what had been happening to the Jews in Europe and how he felt about it. He never spoke about the war when I was growing up, and questions went unanswered. I only knew he had fought overseas.
I also had a copy of the book, “The 30th Infantry Division in World War II,” by Robert L. Hewitt. It had been published in 1946 based on documentation and interviews, and the entire manuscript was reviewed and approved by Major General Leland S. Hobbs, the 30th’s commander in combat.
I responded to Peter Lantos’ request for information with an email and quoted the reference to the incident from the 30th’s book, and my father’s letter. The reference was about the Nazi’s trying to run the train into a river or possibly blow it up as the American troops were closing in on them. There were about 2400 prisoners, mostly Jewish, on the train when they were rescued by units of the 30th Division.
I recently got back to my project and came across that email. I wondered if Peter ever got in contact with the troops that rescued him. Further internet searching and an email to Peter filled in more of the story. Peter had written a book “Parallel Lines” A journey from childhood to Belsen, which was published in 2005. He also attended a 30th Infantry Division reunion in March 2008, and did reunite with a few of those soldiers and some other survivors from the train.
Peter has given permission to share his story with you, and is willing to provide any other information you would be interested in. He is 70 years old and lives in London, but is currently traveling in Russia, and then on to China (he is available via his email to his Blackerry). Frank Towers, retired 30th Infantry Division, has been editing and organizing the unit’s information and reunions for many years. He also said he would be willing to share his part in the story and is available for further information. He is in his early 90’s and living in Florida.
About 175 survivors have been found so far. They are aging quickly and it is our hope to find more of them, or their surviving family members. Below I have listed email addresses and a few web links for more information.
Edie Shlian lives in Mt. Washington, Md. For more information, please contact Dr. Peter Lantos at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Frank W. Towers at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Also, more information can be found by entering into the Google search engine “Rozell” and then following the link to “Teaching History Matters, A train near Magdeburg.”