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Significant moments from the soldier’s experience

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Significant moments from the soldier’s experience

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John Horn, a staff sergeant with the 3rd United States Army Intelligence Center, was a German-Jewish émigré. While some members of his immediate family escaped the Holocaust, having left Germany for America or Palestine before the war, many remained. Most of Horn's letters home deal with general topics--the routine of Army life--but in October 1945, Horn writes from Berlin with a heart-wrenching account of the fate of his family. In only a few lines, Horn encapsulates the murder of Germany 's Jews: the round-ups, the danger of living under assumed identities, the efforts of a few who would save Jews undermined by the actions of traitors, and finally the deportations to certain death at Auschwitz.

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The veteran interrogated SS General (Oberstgruppenführer) Sepp Dietrich.

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"The curtain has fallen on one of the most inhuman and most horrible chapters of mankind…" Letter to Max and Elizabeth [10/30/1945]

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"The curtain has fallen on one of the most inhuman and most horrible chapters of mankind…" Letter to Max and Elizabeth [10/30/1945]

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“The business of fighting a war is never as dashing and glorious as you see it in the movies.”

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“The business of fighting a war is never as dashing and glorious as you see it in the movies.” 

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“The business of fighting a war is never as dashing and glorious as you see it in the movies.” 

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Berlin Offensive april 16 1945- may 2nd 1945

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The battle was between the Soviet Party and the Nazi Party By 16 April 1945 the Soviets had reconstituted from previous offensives and built up massive forces along the line described by the Oder and Neisse Rivers. Meanwhile the western Allies had forced the Rhine and were attacking deep into Germany. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, recognizing that Berlin lay well within territory ceded to Soviet control at the Yalta Conference, halted forces under his command at the Elbe River and drove north and south to consolidate control over Germany west of the Elbe.On 16 April well equipped and supplied Soviet forces numbering over 2,500,000 attacked on a broad front. Opposing them were perhaps 750,000 ill equipped and poorly supplied Germans, many of them hastily raised levies of the young, old and disabled. The Germans put up a stout defense in prepared positions along the Seelow Heights, but the Soviets ground through these and drove on. By 25 April converging Soviet columns surrounded the city and pushed on to the Elbe, isolating Berlin behind ever more.

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By 30 April the Soviets had seized the famous Reichstag itself. Organized resistance disintegrated. Breakout attempts, some of which succeeded, oriented on moving far enough west to surrender to the western Allies rather than on defeating the Soviets. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels committed suicide. Battered remnants surrendered the city on 2 May. Soviet losses exceeded 360,000, while the Germans lost 320,000 killed or wounded. Over 480,000 Germans marched into captivity

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John H. Horn Collection (AFC/2001/001/1728), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

https://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/interactive/interactive_files/WW2/index.html