All Stories: 590
Stories
Letting Go of the Past
Editor's Note: After Eugene's grandmother Johanna Muller's apartment in Hannover was lost to an Allied Air Raid in 1944, she had to spend the remainder of the war in a government-run shelter. Once the war was over, she remained in Germany and…
A Dire Proposition
Editor's Note: When he was 16 years old, Eugene and other members of his Hitler Youth group were taken to a training camp where they were run through military drills and ultimately asked to commit to joining the SS (Schutzstaffel) a major…
Carl Kimling on the Russian Front
“During the war Carl was classified as a conscientious objector and was assigned to a special troop division. These were troops used to hold a line while other troops were pulled back. He fought outside of Stalingrad and his position was overrun; he…
Boarding School in Stadtoldendorf
“After Christmas 1944 I was returning to school from my visit to my grandmother when the train to Stadtoldendorf stopped… Several days later we were skiing in that general direction and we saw what looked like vapor trails going straight up, but no…
Evacuated to the Countryside
Editor's Note: When the war intensified, the Nazi regime sent school kids into the countryside, and Eugene began to live away from his family. Eugene lived with a group of boys near the Polish border. “We were housed in a youth hostel in the village…
The Hitler Youth
“We had a lot of troubles with the Hitler Youth leaders since we were considered Americans. I did get into a lot of fights, until my father paid them a visit… The German law required all children to enter the organized German Youth, or Deutsche…
Trapped in the Third Reich
Editor's Note: In September 1939, Eugene's family went on a trip to Germany to visit Eugene's grandmother Johanna. The family was required to return to Germany periodically to maintain Johanna's property in Hannover. On the same day that their ocean…
Pioneers in the Jungle
"My parents met in South America where my father was working at that time and my mother was visiting. They got married and bought land in the interior to raise cattle. I understand that it was a day to a day-and-a-half ride on horseback outside of…
An American Childhood
Editor's Note: After marrying in Brazil, Eugen and Karla Kimling were both infected with malaria. They decided to move to the United States where Karla soon gave birth to two sons, Carl and Eugene Kimling. During his childhood, Eugene's family lived…
United States Holocaust Memorial Council
Editor's Note: During the final twenty years of his life, Scott began to write, speak, and record testimony about his experience as a witness to the Holocaust. His first experience came in 1979 when he met Alex Gross, a survivor of Buchenwald, at an…