This Man Knows His History...

Ever come face-to-face with your own history? Today I did.  I had the blessing and humbling honor to meet the man who was responsible for my life and the lives of my family.  Today I met Matthew Duffy, formally, Sgt. Matt Duffy. Sgt Duffy served in the U.S. Army during WWII. Why is he responsible for my family's lives?  Come with me on this incredible tale and find out.  My father, Gottfried Kligmann and his brother Samuel Kligmann were imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp after their half brother turned them in.  They were scheduled to be executed when the US Army arrived an hour ahead of schedule.  Sgt Duffy was one of the soldiers who arrived at that time.

Here is a snippet of his story which he related to me today. His battalion, the 2nd Ranger battalion, was attached to the 101st,, airborn battalion but he was with the ground troops.  They were to make a coordinated ground/paratrooper strike on a target. The airborn soldiers were behind schedule and the ground troops were not ordered to wait for them. Sgt Duffy's group surrounded the camp and his platoon entered from the NW side. Matt stated that to the surprise of the US troops, very little enemy resistance was encountered. When his group entered the outer boundaries of the camp, he saw many rail cars loaded with recently murdered bodies that were piled 6-8 ft high.  The rail cars had been headed for the cremation furnaces. He had a camera with him that he had found on an earlier campaign.  While he was photographing what he saw, he noticed movement among the dead!  His best friend "Dutch" Lutjens, climbed into the pile of dead bodies in a box car and dragged a man out.  The man had been shot but was still alive.  (No he was not my dad).  Matt said he could hear screams coming from the camp and he later learned that the freed inmates were viciously attacking and killing the guards with what little strength they had left and all of the pent up rage and hatred they had towards their captors.  Later that day, when Matt was back at the US encampment, he tried to eat but could not because of the orange smoke he saw billowing from the cremation furnaces.  Apparently, the Americans had decided that there was little choice but to allow the cremations to occur in order to deal with the dead. But Sgt Duffy had seen these bodies up close and it was too much for him to deal with. After the Airborn division arrived, they took over and a couple of days later Matt's battalion was sent on a new mission elsewhere. 2 days later, Dutch was shot and killed in battle and 3 days after that Matt was shot as well.  Matt was a recipient of a Purple Heart for his battlefield injuries.  A recent X-ray revealed that there is a bullet in his chest and some shrapnel still inside of him today.

What Matt and Dutch did not know was that as they were attacking the camp, my father and uncle were standing in line waiting to be executed. The earlier arrival of the troops halted and prevented the executions from occurring, thereby, assuring the continuance of the Kligmann line.

My father never told me any of his story. I learned it from his sister, my Aunt Emma, and she only told me after he had died because he made her promise not to tell us, his children, any of it.  I don't know if my mother knew.  If she did, she honored his wishes and died not telling us anything.  In order to understand more of this tale, I need to give a brief summary of my father's history.

My father was  born in the Ukraine around 1920.  There was no record so this date was picked arbitrarily. His father Harry, was a German Jew and his mother, Juliana, I am not sure, was Russian, maybe Catholic or maybe Russian Orthodox.  At that time, the Bolsheviks kicked everyone who was not Russian or Ukrainian out of the country.  My grandparents fled to Germany.  Shortly before the depression hit the US and Germany, my grandmother died.  My grandfather put his kids in orphanages. My father was raised in a Lutheran orphanage.  My Aunt Emma was adopted.  I  am unsure where my Uncle Samuel was raised or my Aunt Bertha.

In his upbringing, my father did not know of his Jewish bloodline and was instilled with a deep and strong national pride for Germany which remained with him until he died. When the war broke out my dad served as a paratrooper on the Russian front. He told me that he was captured and escaped a Russian POW camp and that is what I knew for many years. [My father did tell me once that no matter what side a soldier fought on, the ones that saw real action never talked about it.  After many years of having friends, relatives, and acquaintances who served in battle or in battle zones, I found this to be true.] 

My Aunt Emma, told me a slightly different story after my father died.  She decided that she was no longer bound to her promise to him.  She told me that my father had older half-siblings.  Albert, Augustus, and Michael.  After my father left the orphanage he was reunited with them. Albert was married and his wife and my father had a very friendly brother/older sister relationship which Albert resented severely.  My father met up with his father I think when he was on leave.  Grandpa Harry told my dad that he was going to America while he still could oh and by the way, you are Jewish.  This distressed my dad so much that he contemplated suicide.  Instead, however, he returned to the front, perhaps he decided my grandpa was lying.  I do not know.  Michael went to war and was never heard from again. Meanwhile, Albert's jealousy became so harsh that he turned my dad and my Uncle Samuel in to the Gestapo.  My dad was pulled from the front, stripped of his military status, and placed in Dachau with his brother Samuel.  Aunt Emma told me that her brothers were saved by the Americans coming an hour before they were expected.  We just never knew why.

Now we come to modern times.  My wife and Peggy Frehner had been friends for many years.  Peggy and Lane Frehner moved to Port Angeles WA a few years ago and they stayed in touch via FB. Last December, Peggy posted about her father, Matt Duffy, sharing with her photos he had taken during the war and how he was there at Dachau and how he arrived earlier than was expected.  Well, Corinne knew my dad's story and the 2 story's seemed to be related so she compared notes with me. Since then, we had hoped we could find an opportunity to meet with him. The Frehner's were in town for Matt's 92nd birthday and so we got together.

As Matt and I related our respective stories we both teared up a few times.  He showed me the photos of dead bodies and I showed him the legacy that he preserved.  I showed him photos of my father, my Uncle Samuel, my older brother, and my younger sisters.  I also showed him pictures of my kids and explained to him that I had 12 children and 11 grandchildren (so far). I let him know that his service and those who served with him were part of the miracle of my family and of how honored I was to meet this superhero and how grateful I was to him.  I also extend this to all who have served and are serving in the military.  If any of you who read this were there at Dachau too, I honor you and I am humbled by what you have done.