Peter Hirschmann was born in December 1924 in Nuremberg, Germany. He was raised there as the son of a patriotic World War 1 German officer. As a manufacturer, Hirschmann built a comfortable life for his son. They lived in the suburbs in a large home. Young Hirschmann went to grammar school there but when Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] regime started in 1933, life became uncomfortable. Hirschmann's father had to sell his business at a loss and applied for a visa to enter the United States with his whole family. The lengthy process resulted in Hirschmann, and his brother being sent to England to stay with a relative in February 1939. His parents secured visas for the whole family in August 1939 just a month before the war started. To get a foothold in the new country, the parents elected to enter the United States without their sons. Once the parents obtained work to support the family, the sons voyaged by steamboat, the SS Pennland, to reunite with them in November 1939. Their apartment was small in Manhattan [[Annotator's Note: Manhattan is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. After a few weeks, they moved to New Jersey were Hirschmann's father worked as a billing clerk in a foundry in Newark [Annotator's Note: Newark, New Jersey]. Hirschmann's mother had secured work as a chambermaid for a hotel early on. Despite their great loss in relocating from Germany and separation from relatives left behind, no one could have been happier than Hirschmann's parents. Hirschmann continued his education in Newark and graduated from high school. He became a trainee in a public accounting firm while he attended college at night at Rutgers [Annotator's Note: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey]. He would go on to be a CPA [Annotator's Note: certified public accountant]. His education was interrupted in the Spring of 1943 when he was drafted. He was not a citizen and was classified as an enemy alien because of his German ancestry. He could have refused to be drafted as a result. The American involvement in the war had begun in North Africa. He decided to serve and knew very few who opted otherwise.

Peter Hirschmann was sent to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] and then Camp Croft [Annotator's Note: in Spartanburg, South Carolina; now Croft State Park]. He was very ill at the first Army post. He had a terrible fever and pneumonia. At Camp Croft, he had basic infantry training. He entered the Army ASTP—Army Specialized Training Program [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers]. ASTP was to educate people suitable for those fields because it was thought the war could go on for ten years. He was sent to the University of Connecticut [Annotator's Note: in Storrs, Connecticut] but after six months, the program stopped. The war had heated up after the invasion of France in the Summer of 1944. He was sent back for infantry retraining as a member of the 78th Infantry Division at Camp Pickett [Annotator's Note: now Fort Pickett, near Blackstone, Virginia]. He was shipped to England to be part of reserve forces for the continent of Europe. After two months, he was shipped through Le Havre, France then to Belgium and Luxembourg. He entered action in December 1944 when his outfit was involved in taking two villages Simmerath [Annotator's Note: Simmerath, Germany] and Kesternich [Annotator's Note: Kesternich, Germany] near the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s]. It was extremely cold and digging a foxhole was very difficult. At Simmerath, Hirschmann's Army buddy, Russell Skorik [Annotator's Note: US Army Private 1st Class Russell Skorik], was killed next to him. It was quite a sight to witness but he had to worry about the immediate situation and not getting killed. It was not until a few days later that the loss really sank in. The men dug in for the night at Kesternich. There was no fighting, and the platoon was ordered to withdraw from their foxholes and take a rest in a farmhouse cellar in the rear. Other troops replaced them in the frontline foxholes. After midnight, a German tank pulled up to the farmhouse. Hirschmann does not know what happened to the frontline troops in the foxholes, but casualties were heavy. It was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. The Germans were throwing grenades into the basements. They ordered the Americans to come out with their hands up. There was little choice but to comply. Back in England, Hirschmann had been assigned to Company F, 2nd battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division as a 138-pound BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR], despite the weapon being heavy. His father who would have substituted for his son in combat since he was a World War 1 veteran offered his son a Latin phrase that meant "through hardship to the stars." Hirschmann carved that phrase on the stock of his BAR. After the BAR was surrendered to the Germans at Kesternich, Hirschmann ponders what the soldier who picked up the weapon made of the phrase. There were about 15 Americans in the basement who surrendered. A German soldier was put in charge of Hirschmann who was separated from the other captives. Both Hirschmann and the enemy soldier were about the same age. The captor handed Hirschmann a chocolate bar. Hirschmann thinks of that guard and whatever happened to him. [Annotator's Note: Hirschmann becomes emotional.]

Peter Hirschmann [Annotator's Note: a member of Company F, 2nd battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division, was captured in Kesternich, Germany December 1944] was marched through German villages where rocks were thrown at them . The prisoners of war were put in cattle cars and sent to Cologne [Annotator's Note: Cologne (Köln), Germany]. They were put in barracks near the railroad switching yard. Allied aircraft bombed the area day and night. Some hit the barracks holding the prisoners. Hirschmann's dog tag had an H for Hebrew, so the captors made him, and some others, clean up the mess in the unsanitary boxcars even though they had dysentery [Annotator's Note: infection of the intestines]. Travelling again in a boxcar to near Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany], he arrived in Stalag III A [Annotator's Note: Stalag III-A in Luckenwalde, Brandenburg, Germany] or B [Annotator's Note: Stalag III-B in Fürstenberg, Brandenburg, Germany]. He had been interrogated by a German officer who spoke English. Hirschmann made the mistake of responding to a command made in German. He had to explain he had learned German in high school. While in a POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camp, there was no new clothing for five and a half months. Cold water ran in the latrine and there was no soap or toothpaste. With no change of clothes and no way to clean them for that duration, lice developed on the prisoners. There were double decker bunks with straw mattresses and possibly a blanket. The food was minimal. It allowed the prisoners to just exist. His weight dropped from 138 to 98 pounds during his incarceration. He received Red Cross packages with concentrated food items that were carefully rationed. The packages had cigarettes that the non-smokers used to trade for food. The camp was on the east side of the Elbe River. The Americans were known to be on the other side of the river. The British came in to liberate the prisoners. Ordered not to leave the camp, some former POWs left anyway. The British put Hirschmann in prison overnight for leaving the camp. Several former inmates decided to cross the Elbe without regard for any remaining German troops who might try to kill them. The river was crossed on a destroyed bridge. When they reached the American lines, they were welcomed, deloused, and given a nominal amount of food that they could handle. After a few days, they were put on a cargo plane with food onboard. They left Hanover and flew to Camp Lucky Strike in northern France [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. They received medical treatment and were greeted by General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States]. The former prisoners of war were treated royally by the PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange] where they received cigarettes for nothing. Hirschmann took up smoking but cut that out later in life. After reaching home by June [Annotator's Note: June 1945], he reported to a hospital facility in Atlantic City [Annotator's Note: Atlantic City, New Jersey] where he was checked out. He regained his weight by the time the bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. He was being readied to be shipped to the Pacific prior to the war ending. He rejoiced when the war ended. He reported back to Camp Pickett [Annotator's Note: now Fort Pickett, near Blackstone, Virginia] for several months until he was discharged in December 1945.

Peter Hirschmann and his Jewish family were an accepted part of the German population prior to Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] rise to power. It was a good life until then. He had a good public high school education. He and his brother were excluded from their schools shortly after Hitler came to power. The non-Jewish population became unfriendly to them. Hirschmann and his brother were both beaten by their schoolmates and the boys were taken out of the high school by their parents. They attended a Jewish school until they had to leave. Hirschmann's father's lucrative business was sold to a Nazi SS officer [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] under duress for less than it was worth. The SS man had prevented his troops from terrorizing the Hirschmanns during Kristallnacht [Annotator's Note: Night of Broken Glass; November Pogrom; 9 and 10 November 1938] because the officer was in negotiations with Hirschmann's father for acquisition of the business. Other Jewish families had their valuables and bodies broken by the Nazis during that event. The future became clear to the Hirschmanns, so they shipped their sons to England in February 1939 and left the country in August 1939. Hirschmann had learned some English in school in anticipation of leaving Germany. During basic training at Camp Croft Annotator's Note: in Spartanburg, South Carolina; now Croft State Park], Hirschmann became an American citizen. His German ancestry did not affect the men in his unit. Later, he was bullied because of anti-Semitism at the University of Connecticut [Annotator's Note: in Storrs, Connecticut]. He took his studies seriously over the six months in ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers]. He tutored other students in some lessons they found difficult. He is still in touch with Ernest Hunter [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] from Charlotte, North Carolina. They became friends when Hirschmann tutored him. They were in the same regiment [Annotator's Note: 2nd battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division] but different companies. Both were captured but in separate groups. They reconnected at Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. They reunited a few years back and had a lovely conversation. They discussed the pending interview [Annotator's Note: this interview] and verified facts together ahead of time.

Peter Hirschmann lost a friend from the Midwest. The friend was named Russell Skorik. [Annotator's Note: US Army Private 1st Class Russell Skorik]. Hirschmann's company [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division] took many casualties in the war. About a third of them were killed in action. It is hard to look at the picture of his company. They took a hell of a beating. Skorik was killed by a sniper left behind by the Germans as they retreated. Hirschmann thinks he got the sniper. Skorik did not have a chance. It was like a death sentence.

Peter Hirschmann [Annotator's Note: a member of Company F, 2nd battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division, was captured in Kesternich, Germany December 1944] made sure that his German captors did not know he spoke their language. As a POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war], packages would be received from the Red Cross. Any thieves would be treated harshly by their fellow POWs. Max Schmeling [Annotator's Note: Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling, German professional boxer] who had been beaten in a boxing match by Joe Louis [Annotator's Note: Joseph Louis Barrow, American professional boxer] visited the Stalag [Annotator's Note: Hirschmann believes he was in either Stalag III-A in Luckenwalde, Brandenburg, Germany, or Stalag III-B in Fürstenberg, Brandenburg, Germany]. When Hirschmann developed flu and a high fever, the dispensary gave him medicine and treated him. There was no thought of escape. British who had been captured in North Africa were there for years before the Americans arrived. They greeted the new arrivals with a half cup of hot tea. It tasted like a feast. The POWs did nothing at all during the day. They stayed indoors because it was so cold outside. There was a radio and they heard about the death of President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States died on 12 April 1945] and the progress of friendly forces. There were no books to read. The POWs had nothing available to occupy their time. Liberation came when the British entered the camp after the Germans had evacuated the Stalag. There was no anticipation of the arrival of the liberators. There were no Germans to resist as they tried to melt away in the civilian population. It was unimaginable to be free again. He was 20 years of age. He enjoyed every day. After the war, Hirschmann had no bad dreams related to his experiences. He never saw a person suffering from nightmares until he heard about it after subsequent wars.

Peter Hirschmann transitioned from being a child to a man as a result of the war. His brother served in military intelligence in the Signal Corps [Annotator's Note: US Army Signal Corps] using his German language knowledge. He was in North Africa and Italy at Anzio [Annotator's Note: Battle of Anzio, 22 January 1944 to 5 June 1944, Anzio, Italy]. He did the same work in France. Hirschmann lost boyhood friends and family due to the Holocaust [Annotator's Note: also called the Shoah; the genocide of European Jews during World War 2]. One friend, Tomas [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], and his family fled Germany to Holland but with the German occupation they were sent to Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland]. A memorial book published by the city of Nuremberg, Germany, lists all those who were murdered during the wartime years by the Nazis. The members of Tomas' family died at different times with his sister being the last in April 1945. Hirschmann's mother's family died at Theresienstadt [Annotator's Note: Theresienstadt transit and concentration camp in Terezín, Czechoslovakia; now Terezín, Czech Republic]. They died of typhus [Annotator's Note: also known as typhus or typhoid fever, a group of infectious diseases] in December 1944. The Germans kept accurate records of the inmates they held and those who died. Hirschmann maintains a memory book of the names. His father's three sisters also perished in the camps in 1944 and 1945. Hirschmann and his wife have visited the sites in Poland and Theresienstadt.