During the Anschluss, he wore the uniform of Nazi Germany. Then they discovered he was Jewish

The St. Louis Kaplan Holocaust Museum, SPecial for the Jewish Light
Published August 17, 2021

Since 1979, Vida “Sister” Goldman Prince has been Chairman of the Oral Histories Project, at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The project is dedicated to recording and preserving audio interviews of not only Holocaust Survivors, but also liberators of Nazi concentration camps and other non-Jewish witnesses living in Europe during World War II.

The museum was one of the first to begin gathering oral history projects so these voices and photographs will be displayed and future generations will continue to be witnesses to this catastrophic period of world history. In partnership with the Jewish Light, The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is allowing us to republish a portion of these Oral Histories project as a celebration of life and a crucial part of honoring and remembering the past. Please follow the provided links to additional recordings.

A Brief Bio

Alfred Burger was born in Vienna, Austria and served in the Austrian army during the Anschluss, where for a time he wore the uniform of Nazi Germany until his Jewish identity was discovered and he was dismissed.

He escaped Nazi occupation in 1939 with a visa to England. When Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, he was among the Jews who were placed in a British concentration camp for “enemy aliens” and shipped to Australia on the ship, Dunera.

In Australia, Mr. Burger was incarcerated in a similar “enemy alien” concentration camp until 1941. He had to wait in Australia until 1942, when he was sent back to England and worked for the British Air Force. After waiting five years for visas, Mr. Burger and his family came to Washington, D.C. in 1951.

One of his brothers, as well as a sister survived. Some members of his extended family, including his cousin, Harry (whose testimony is in the archives of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center), also survived. Alfred Burger’s father, stepmother, brother, some extended family members in Austria, and entire extended family in Poland perished during the Holocaust.