Rudolf Herz papers

Rudolf "Rudy" Herz (1925-2011) was born in Stommeln, Germany, son of Ernst and Karoline Herz. In 1942, he and his entire family, including his parents, grandmother, four brothers, and a sister, were deported by train to Theresienstadt concentration camp outside of Prague. Herz stayed in Theresienstadt until May 1944, at which point he, his parents, and his siblings were sent to Auschwitz; his grandmother died while in Theresienstadt.

In July 1944, Herz and his older brother, Alfred, were selected for labor in a camp near Dresden, Germany, where they worked until February 1945. As the Russian army approached the camp, they were forced to march toward the interior of Germany. From there, they were sent by train to Mauthausen, then Gusen, deadly work camps in Austria. By the end of April, having seen SS guards at the camp destroy technical drawings for the planes produced there, Herz knew that Allied forces were near. The guards soon abandoned their posts and fled the camp.

On May 5, 1945, two days before Germany surrendered, American troops arrived at Gusen and liberated the prisoners. Herz made his way to nearby Linz, Austria, seeking medical treatment. He traveled to Holland, then trekked to France, joining a group that planned to settle in Israel. However, after he learned that his younger brother Karl-Otto had survived the war and immigrated to the United States, he decided to follow him. Herz served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and eventually settled in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with his wife, Ursula Syré Herz, whom he married in France in 1964.