A young Jewish captain who fled to the United States from Germany in 1934 acted as interpreter today at ceremonies when representatives of the German high command in Italy and Austria reported to Gen. Mark Clark for orders implementing the formal surrender which was signed on Sunday. He is Capt. Werner Kohlhagen of 4918 Reading Road in Cincinnati.
Seated between Maj. Gen. Alfred M. Gruenther, Clark’s chief of staff and Panzer Gen. Fridelin von Senger und Etterlin, Capt. Kohlhagen translated the pleas of the head of the German delegation for protection of the German forces in the north from partisan bands while details of the rounding up of all units is being completed.
“This is the happiest moment of my life,” Kohlhagen told a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent immediately after the meeting ended.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
