Staff Sgt. Vogel was captured, along with thousands of other American troops, during what became known as “The Battle of the Bulge” in December 1944. He was imprisoned in Stalag IX-B in Bad Orb, Germany. From there, the Germans separated 350 U.S. soldiers for being Jewish or “looking like Jews,” including Vogel. In February 1945, these 350 were sent to Berga an der Elster, a subcamp of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp where he was forced into slave labor. 47 American POWs died in the camp as a result of the appalling conditions that included malnutrition, cold weather, beatings, and executions. In early April 45, Vogel and fellow prisoner Israel Cohen (also buried at this cemetery) tried to escape. The Germans quickly captured them both and as a punishment forced them to stand in front of their barracks at Berga, with no food or water. Vogel, who had already lost about half his body weight, stood day and night, for at least two days, before he crumpled to the ground and slowly died from malnutrition and dehydration. Cohen would eventually suffer the same fate, along with 36 other American POWs on a 2 ½ week forced march to escape the approaching Allies. Total deaths from The Holocaust are difficult to measure but the numbers certainly exceed ten million.

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Biography courtesy of the Ardennes American Cemetery