Eddie Willner
Encyclopedia
Major Eddie Hellmuth Willner (August 15, 1926 – March 30, 2008) was a German Jew, a survivor of Auschwitz, a Mason, and a US Army Major.
Willner, his mother, and his father, a veteran of the German army from the First World War and holder of the Iron Cross
, were detained by the Nazis and eventually imprisoned in Auschwitz. His mother was immediately gassed, but the male Willners were made slave laborers. At Blechhammer, a subcamp of Auschwitz, the senior Willner was murdered by the camp guards when he was 50 as being too old to work, but Eddie was sent to Gross-Rosen concentration camp
on a death march, then transported on to Langenstein-Zwieberge, a subcamp of Buchenwald, to provide manual labor for the V-2 rocket
program. Towards the end of the war, to avoid letting prisoners acquainted with the V-2 program from being recovered by the allies, the Germans put Willner and the other prisoners on another death march. Willner and six others escaped; two survived, and, following the sounds of artillery, found the 3rd Armored Division, Company D, 32nd Regiment.
Willner and the other survivor, Mauritz Swaab, helped the kitchen crew of the Americans, and helped point out German positions they observed in their escape. After the war, Willner managed to secure immigration to the United States, joined the Army, and served for 21 years. He retired a Major.
Willner married a German, Johanna Tiburtius, to whom he stayed wedded until his death after 49 years. They had six children.
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Willner, his mother, and his father, a veteran of the German army from the First World War and holder of the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
, were detained by the Nazis and eventually imprisoned in Auschwitz. His mother was immediately gassed, but the male Willners were made slave laborers. At Blechhammer, a subcamp of Auschwitz, the senior Willner was murdered by the camp guards when he was 50 as being too old to work, but Eddie was sent to Gross-Rosen concentration camp
Gross-Rosen concentration camp
KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen, Lower Silesia . It was located directly on the rail line between Jauer and Striegau .-The camp:...
on a death march, then transported on to Langenstein-Zwieberge, a subcamp of Buchenwald, to provide manual labor for the V-2 rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
program. Towards the end of the war, to avoid letting prisoners acquainted with the V-2 program from being recovered by the allies, the Germans put Willner and the other prisoners on another death march. Willner and six others escaped; two survived, and, following the sounds of artillery, found the 3rd Armored Division, Company D, 32nd Regiment.
Willner and the other survivor, Mauritz Swaab, helped the kitchen crew of the Americans, and helped point out German positions they observed in their escape. After the war, Willner managed to secure immigration to the United States, joined the Army, and served for 21 years. He retired a Major.
Willner married a German, Johanna Tiburtius, to whom he stayed wedded until his death after 49 years. They had six children.
Gravesite
Willner is buried at grave 15 in section 60 of the Arlington National CemeteryArlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
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