Rudy Ronald Kennedy

Rudy Kennedy (born Karmeinsky) was born in Rosenberg, Germany (now Olesno, Poland) a small town of around 6,000 people including around 50 Jews. In 1933 he went to school where the headmaster happened to be an early member of the Nazi party, the blackboard in his classroom said 12 boys, 11 girls, 1 jew. He was expelled in 1937 and sent to Breslau. His parents and sister joined him when all Jews when Rosenberg was cleared of Jews in 1940. The Jewish Gymnasium (grammar school) was closed in 1941, though he had his Bar Mitzvah then. In 1942 they were rounded up, but sent home as his father was working in a factory helping the war effort, in 1943 they were rounded up, put in cattle trucks and sent to Auschwitz. His mother and sister were immediately sent to the gas chambers, while Rudy (now 15) and his father were selected for work at Auschwitz-III Monowitz/Buna. He was put on road works (outside, life expectancy 6 weeks), his father worked for Siemens in the I.G. Farben factory. His father managed to persuade his Kappo that he was a good electrician and after a potentially deathly test (which he passed), he was accepted into the Electricians. His father got ill but kept saying "Remember Bloomsbury" and was taken off to the KB (hospital) where he died. Rudy was now alone, but developed a survival instinct. He also found a fault with an electrical schematic and the Kappo took him to the Siemens bosses there and he was given the job examine all schematics to ensure there weren't faults. He worked in an office and had a lockable desk and was given food with the Kappos at lunchtime. He was a semi-prominent (VIP), Jews could never be real prominents as they were all destined to die. Kappos could issue KL-Auschwitz money which could be used to buy goods (there were between 20-30,000 labourers at the I.G. Farben plant). He bought cigarettes which he traded with local farmers for tomatoes. He survived Auschwitz for 2 years and as the Russians advanced, he was sent on a death march to Kattowitz (Kattowice) and then on to cattle truck to Mittlebau-Dora/Mittelwerk. He worked there testing V-2 turbines. As the Americans were advancing, the camp was cleared and he hid in the already cleared tunnels, but dogs were sent in and he was chased out. He managed to lose them and ran down the hill to the Appelplatz (assembly area) where some Dutch Prisoners of War were waiting to march out and they opened ranks and let him in. They then were marched to Nordhausen and put on open trucks to Bergen-Belsen (it took over a week as they had to pull over and make room to retreating German troop trains). He remained with the Dutch for a short while until they were due to be sent home, a British soldier Colonel Kennedy said he was going home on leave and would get his details to the Jewish Agency in Bloomsbury. A colleague then found him and told him they'd have to leave or they'd be sent to the Jewish camp (where thousands were dying daily). So he and 5 others walked to the gates, he grabbed the gun from the soldier guarding it and threw it on the ground knowing the soldier wasn't going to shoot them. It turned out his uncle Max (who'd left Rosenberg before the war) and was now a soldier was stationed near Bergen-Belsen, but was told by his commanding officer to go nowhere near the place. They decided to go to Hannover, but dad collapsed on route and was sent to a military hospital where no one knew what to do with this starved skeleton. Eventually a Russian doctor said he's seen similar conditions in Stalingrad and pumped him full of vitamins. His colleague found him when he was better and took him to a nursing home they were staying at (which had been owned by a senior German Nazi), suddenly US troops arrived and they were arrested and put on trial in a Military Court. The Judge (a Colonel Ash) said they'd resisted arrest and several were sentenced to hard labour (and were never heard of again), dad was given a short sentence as he was still a child. The jailers were embarrassed and fed him well and kept him warm. After 2 weeks he was released and tried to return to the nursing home where he was told that all their belongings (as such as they were) had been given to more deserving people. Two US reporters appeared and said he should leave immediately or he'd be likely re-arrested and they took him to the Displaced Persons Camp at Zillsheim. He was meant to be one of "The Boys" but at the last moment his plane was cancelled and it took him over a year to get his papers to go to England. While waiting he worked for the US Army as a trusted civilian as an ambulance driver. He then went to England in 1947, rapidly educated himself and then got a degree in Electronic Engineering. He had a "Look Forward" view of life and didn't reflect on his past. He lived with his Uncle Max and Frank and Aunt Lucie (who couldn't cope with the thought of he family being killed and committed suicide). He lived in a room in the attic, but it was the first place he could call his own for since the 40's. In the 1950's he worked for English Electric on missile guidance systems, his managers knew his past (as he had to be security cleared) and when visiting US rocket scientists were visiting, he'd be asked not to come in or make himself scarce as the British didn't want to embarrass them as he might recognise them from Mittelwerk or worse they recognise him (the US took in over 1,500 Nazi Germans under Operation Paperclip). He was sent to the US on a fact finding mission to evaluate US missile systems and was given a higher security rating than the rest of the team because the US had his records from working as an ambulance driver while all the others in the team (including managers) only had references from the UK security services. Though on their itinerary, only he was never given clearance to visit Huntsville (Alabama) where Wernher von Braun and team were based. He then worked for SE Laboratories and married his wife Gitti. In the 1970's he set-up his own company Digital Electronics Ltd making medical electronics (ECG type machines). It became part of the medical electronics side of Roche Pharmaceuticals and he had an office in Basle managing many R&D projects worldwide. He often travelled to the US and no one would believe him about "those nice Germans in Huntsville who helped get man on the moon". He then worked on various consulting roles including Demon Internet and Entran. In 1995 he took Steve (son) and Nicky (daughter) to Auschwitz for the 50th anniversary of when he was sent on the death march. He hired a guide (who was very much promoting the Polish resistance aspects), but after saying "I was here as a slave labourer 50 years ago" the guide changed the story. After completing the tour the guide insisted that he should visit the Record's Office. He didn't see the point but did go where he found his father's death certificate which stated he'd died of a "heart attack" which meant he'd been given a phenol injection into his heart and he'd been killed for being unfit for work. Something changed as he now knew his father hadn't died but had been killed. On leaving the office someone went up to him and asked if he'd meet some people. It turned out to be an ITN film crew and they wanted to interview him. After being silent for 50 years, he decided to do the interview and appeared on ITN News at TEN. On returning to the UK, he set-up (with Roman Halter, Michael Etkind, Kopek Kendall and others) the Association of "Claims for Slave-Labour Compensation" which campaigned for reparations and in part lead to the Claims Conference. His campaign was filmed by Luke Holland/ZEF Productions and was shown on BBC Storyville as "I was a Slave Labourer" (on Youtube as "I was Hitler's slave"). Unfortunately he got Alzheimer's and couldn't continue campaigning. His personality completely changed (it's said you revert to childhood and his childhood he was fighting for his life every day). He fell out of bed and got a hermorrhage and died on November 10th 2008. He is missed by family and friends