Tillemans, Nuremberg Trials typist, dies
Fri, 01/03/2020 - 11:55am
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Minneota native witnessed Nazi leaders sentenced to death
By:
Scott Thoma Mascot Staff Writer
Lawrence "Larry" Tillemans, one of the few remaining American soldiers who played a vital role at the Nuremberg War Trials, passed away after a brief illness with family members at his side on Jan. 28. He was 93.
Tillemans, who was born and raised in Minneota, had been residing at Country Major in Sartell following the death of his wife, Josephine, in 2010.
Only a few days before his death, Tillemans dressed as Santa Claus and led Christmas songs at Country Manor.
Tillemans was born Aug. 1, 1926 in Minneota to William and Katherine Tillemans.
Although he never liked the idea of typing, Tillemans was urged by his mother to take that class as a sophomore in high school.
"I didn't want to take typing because I thought it was for girls," Tillemans told the Mascot during a 2013 interview.
Sure enough, Tillemans was right. When he showed up for the first day of class, there were 20 girls and he was the only boy seated behind a typewriter.
"I rather enjoyed it, though," he laughed.
Tillemans lettered in both basketball and baseball at Minneota. He and his three brothers all earned the rank of Eagle Scout and had their photo together in the Mascot following that rare accomplishment.
After graduating high school in 1944, Tillemans entered the U.S. Army, and during World War II, became a sergeant in Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army in Germany, where he eventually became a part of one of the world's most historic events.
It was his typing skills that landed him a position as a 19-year-old typist for the prosecution team that documented the affidavits of over 200,000 survivors of the Holocaust during the Nuremberg and Dachau War Trials.
The trials began on Nov, 20, 1945 and were held in the Palace of Justice in Nuremeberg, one of the few remaining building intact following the extensive bombing, and within the walls of a concentration camp in Dachau.
"I spent hundreds of hours taking notes and later typed statements of the captured Nazi leaders through their attorneys," Tillemans said in the 2013 interview with the Mascot.
Tillemans had tears in his eyes as he told of the horrors he witnesses and heard about while in Germany. Over 10,770,000 Jews, Russians, and gypsies were killed following orders from Nazi officials. Most were either gassed or cremated.
"To sit there and listen to all the terrible things these men had been responsible for affected me a lot," he said. "There were so many nights that I cried myself to sleep."
Unbeknownst to him at the time, Tillemans would have been face-to-face in the courtroom with Adolf Hitler had the Nazi leader been captured instead of committing suicide.
Even so, the young Tillemans was in court when 24 Nazi leaders were put on trial and found guilty, including Hermann Wilhelm Goerring, the second-highest ranked member of the Nazi Party and the designated successor to Hitler.
Twelve of those on trial were sentenced to be hanged. But Goerring took his own life the day before the scheduled execution and another was shot and killed trying to escape. The other 10 were hanged on Oct. 16, 1946.
Tillemans' hatred for Nazis eventually dissipated when he realized "You can't be a Christian with so much hate in your soul and mind, so I turned to God for help."
When Tillemans returned home from the war, he lived in Minneapolis where he met his wife Josephine, who was his nurse when he had his appendix removed. They were married for 65 years and eventually lived in St. Joseph, MN. They had six children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Tillemans first started working as a vacuum cleaner salesman before becoming a five-state regional representative for Ralston Purina until his retirement in 1987.
Shortly after retiring when he was 60, Larry began to share his experiences in the war. In all, he gave over 450 presentations to various organizations such as veterans groups, schools, churches, prisons, museums, and more.
Tillemans' involvement in the war trials was told in a Emmy-Award winning documentary entitled "The Typist" by PBS affiliate KSMQ in Austin.
Larry Tillemans stressed numerous times over the years the importance that we should "Never forget the Holocaust!"
And we will also never forget the service and contributions Tillemans made to our country.
Lawrence Tillemans