Arthur Dodd

Arthur Dodd (December 1919 in Northwich, Cheshire – 17 January 2011) served in the British Army during World War II. After being captured at Tobruk, he became a Prisoner of War and was imprisoned at E715, an Allied POW camp attached to Auschwitz III (Monowitz), a sub-camp of the notorious Auschwitz.

Biography

Early life

Dodd's father served in the British Army during the Boer War and was a Sergeant during World War I when he was captured. Dodd left school in 1934 aged 15, and became an apprentice mechanic for a motor transport company in his native Northwich, moving to the Weaver Navigation Company in 1937. In September 1938, he nearly lost his left foot when it became trapped between a ramp and a turning wheel. He received extensive physiotherapy for his injuries, but still only received a rating of 'B2' when he tried to enlist into the Army, too low to allow him to join up. However, as he had an HGV licence, he was permitted to enlist as a military driving instructor As they were marched to the concentration camp and factory where they would be working, Dodd tells of a teenage Jewish girl, stripped to the waist, who was being savagely whipped by an SS officer. Dodd and the other POWs attempted to get between him and the bleeding girl. The SS officer pulled out his pistol and threatened to shoot Dodd, who was at the front, if he interfered further. A Wehrmacht soldier warned Dodd that he meant what he said. The British troops stepped aside and the officer resumed beating the girl. with its accompanying smell of burning flesh from the crematorium at nearby Auschwitz II, was to be Dodd's home for the next 14 months. During his imprisonment in Camp E715, Dodd said he witnessed the mistreatment and killing of Jewish inmates at the camp by their SS guards, including Jews hanging from the gallows in Auschwitz I and several pushed off high scaffolding. and in the BBC's Auschwitz: The Forgotten Witness (1997). In the latter programme, Dodd returned to Auschwitz to find the location of Camp E715, and tried unsuccessfully to gain admission to the IG Farben plant to claim the 14 months back wages he said they owed him for his forced wartime labour there.

Decline in health and death

In November 2009 it was reported in the Wirral News that, aged 90, Dodd was battling with Alzheimer's disease and required full-time care at a care home in Cheshire. A campaign was launched to raise the £500 a week needed to cover the cost of his care. He died in the early hours of 17 January 2011 aged 91.