Roddie Edmonds and many of his fellow US Army mates were captured by Nazi forces on 19 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. Some of them were sent to Stalag IXB. Edmonds was the senior noncommissioned officer (Master Sergeant) and was made responsible for the camp’s 1,275 American POWs.
The men of the 422nd Regiment were forced to march approximately 50 kilometres to Gerolstein, Germany. Upon arrival, they were loaded into cattle/box cars, 60 to 70 men per car, with almost no food or water. The following 7 days and nights, they travelled to Stalag IXB in Bad Orb. They arrived on Christmas day, 25 December 1945. After about a month in Bad Orb, the American POWs were divided into three groups: officers, non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and enlisted men. The NCOs were taken to Stalag IXA in Ziegenhain. There were 1,000 men in this group.
On 25 January 1945, two days before Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops- they arrived in Stalag IXA, Ziegenheim.
The camp commandant ordered Edmonds to tell only the Jewish-American soldiers to present themselves at the next morning’s assembly so they could be separated from the other prisoners. Instead, Edmonds ordered all 1,275 to assemble outside their barracks. The German commandant rushed up to Edmonds in a fury, placed his pistol against Edmonds’ head and demanded that he identify the Jewish soldiers under his command. Instead, Edmonds responded, “We are all Jews here,” and threatened to have the commandant investigated and prosecuted for war crimes after the conflict ended, should any of Edmonds’ men be harmed.
Luckily, the camp commandant still had a smidgeon of common sense left. He took the threat seriously. Many others would not have done that and would have executed all men.
MSgt Edmonds saved 200 Jewish men because of this brave stand against the Nazi tyranny. Truthfully, more than 200 persons were saved as these men had children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren—multiply this number several times over.
Roddie Edmonds was a hero who was (rightly) awarded the recognition as Righteous Among the People by Yad Vashem.
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Sources
History of Sorts 
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