WWII Combat Veteran Interview - Werner Ellmann

Werner Ellmann was born on February 16, 1924 in Bodenwoehr, Germany. His family settled in Chicago and during the Depression was active in the German American Bund movement. Along with his mother and brother, Werner visited family in Germany and stayed there for nine months in 1938. He returned to the US, ultimately graduated from Lane Technical High school on Chicago's north side. During the war he served in the US Army intelligence corps, attached to the British 6th Airborne, 101st Airborne, and 11th Armored Division. He also helped liberate prisoners at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria and was a translator at the Nuremberg war trails. In his post military years he fought for civil rights including actively marching and protesting in the 1960's. Werner was also a passionate advocate for volunteering co-founded an anti-bullying program called Principled Minds and frequently spoke to school groups about the atrocities of the Holocaust that he'd witnessed as an American soldier. Werner passed away in 2016.
Interviewers: Steve Karras
Julia W. Rath
Camera: Ilko Davidov
In Loving Memory of Werner Ellmann

[@dylanbartlett5509]

thats my great uncle thank you for capturing this

[@stevenkarras3490]

Thank you for watching, Dylan! It was an honor to meet your uncle

[@dylanbartlett5509]

@@stevenkarras3490 he was a truly great man

[@jyellowhammer]

Awesome perspective. Extremely rare and unique.

[@stevenkarras3490]

Thank you for watching

[@kevinmacomber1336]

This man's memory is not only incredible, but he has very unique experiences of the world prior to the war. This is quite a rare interview with a great man.

[@stevenkarras3490]

Thanks for watching and your compliments !

[@markwriter2698]

You might want to read the description before the watrching the video because the time and places jump around so much.

[@paulprigge1209]

My uncle married German girl. He was US Army. She left family in Germany World War II. Her mother came over afterwards.

[@stevenkarras3490]

My friend's dad too. They had a big family

[@marcclement7396]

I don't blame him for not wanting to talk about certain things but that which would be the most interesting from a historical stand point is skipped over. He was already in France before D-Day?
Tough guy to interview, but very understandable. He has clearly experienced some nasty things he has tucked away.

[@stevenkarras3490]

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts. I wonder if he landed with a glider on the 5th?

[@kazkazimierz1742]

I was in DP camps in the US sector of Germany when I was a kid.

[@stevenkarras3490]

Were the American soldiers nice to you ?

[@kazkazimierz1742]

Didn't have much contact with them, but when I did they were nice.@@stevenkarras3490

[@erikj2738]

What was Werner's rank?

[@bryanfrombuffalo7685]

12 million ppl not a bone ...a tooth a finger...etc