WWII Liberator Feted at 100th Birthday

More than 70 well-wishers filled the Berman Commons auditorium on Sunday morning, Feb. 18, to honor World War II veteran and liberator Hibby (Hilbert) Margol just days before his 100th birthday on Feb. 22. The event was organized by the Jewish War Veterans of Atlanta (Post 112).

A number of dignitaries and elected officials, including Georgia’s two United States senators, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, sent greetings of congratulations that were acknowledged at the event. Representatives from the Vietnam War Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars presented Margol with meaningful recognitions for his continued service and personal sacrifice to our country.

As a 19-year-old Army Infantrymen, Hibby and his twin brother, Howard, were among the first American soldiers to witness the horrors of the Dachau killing camp in Germany. As Margol tells it, on April 29, 1945, as his company approached the area, a strong and peculiar odor was noticed. The Margol brothers received permission to go investigate, with some thinking it might be a chemical plant. Instead, they found the terrible smell coming from a long line of train boxcars containing the bodies of Jewish camp prisoners. Some of the cars had been opened by the very first American soldiers on the scene shortly before the Margols arrived. A photograph the brothers took with a Brownie camera documenting their sad discovery was given to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

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Twin brothers, Hilbert (Hibby) and Howard Margol, are pictured during their specialized Army training.

More bodies were found as they ventured into the camp itself, but at the time they didn’t understand what exactly they had come upon. As Margol explained, “The concentration camps weren’t military targets, so we [the GIs on the ground] didn’t know much about them.”

It wasn’t until years later they learned that the unfortunate souls on the trains had perished on a long journey from the Buchenwald concentration camp, having been quickly loaded on the train cars as the Americans approached. And the grisly scene of piled bodies found inside Dachau was because the furnaces had stopped working.

Hibby Margol speaking at the 100th birthday celebration organized by the Jewish War Veterans of Atlanta // Photo Credit: Joanne Max

Although Margol says he, like so many others who survived the war, never spoke of his experiences in the years after the war, it was a March of the Living trip to Poland in more recent years that made him realize he had an important story to tell. Even now as a centenarian, Margol remains a passionate and tireless speaker, telling his story illustrated with a PowerPoint presentation to school, church, and civic group audiences, whenever he can.

At the JWV event, an official Commendation signed by Governor Brian Kemp was presented to Margol, citing his powerful testimony as one of the invaluable contributors to understanding this history and ensuring that it is never forgotten. He referred to Margol’s story as “a beacon of hope and a reminder of the resilience of the human spirit.”

Margol also received two American flags, including one which was flown over the United States Capitol on Veterans Day secured by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (Georgia’s 11th district) and another from U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia’s 6th district.

Among his formal interviews over the years, Margol has recounted his stories to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Shoah Foundation, the Atlanta History Center, and for a televised National Geographic documentary. His brother, Howard, who passed away in 2017, gave many interviews as well, including one for The Breman Museum.

In a video interview he sat for with the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust in October 2020, Hibby shared: “To me it’s something I enjoy doing. I’ve spoken to an audience as small as two people and some as large as over 200 people … I hope and pray that people who listen to my stories, and their offspring, outlive the offspring of the deniers.”