my Uncle was part of one of the liberation units of Dachau. [View all]
Though the anniversary today is about Auschwitz, the remembrance, I believe, is about all the people that were put in these horrible death camps. It is a day that we should celebrate the beginning of the end of the German concentration camps. We should celebrate the heroes that suffered the atrocities. Both those that survived and those that didn't. We should celebrate those that fought to stop these horrors, regardless of what that meant for themselves.
It is a day we should mourn the loss of millions of innocent people. The loss of spirit as well as life. We should mourn the loss of the humanity by what were previously good people, who then kept silent, allowing this to happen.
It is a day that we should remember as we look at what is happening today.
My uncle was part of one of the liberation units for one of the camps. It wasn't Auschwitz, it was Dachau, another of the murder/torture camps. He never spoke in detail about it to his nieces and nephews. I know it changed him drastically.
He was only 6 months away from graduating from college when he joined the Army in 1944. Two of his older brothers were "in for the duration." Both were heroes, one receiving the Bronze Star. He needed to be a part of it.
My grandparents were so relieved on VE day that the 3 blue stars in their window were never going to turn gold. They were relieved that their youngest living son wasn't going to witness the horrors his brothers did. Or so they thought. They didn't know yet what my uncle had seen.
He came home completely changed. He became a raging alcoholic, among other changes, mostly emotional stability. It was only through his wife and brothers we heard any of what he saw. Things that were so horrible even fellow AA member were changed. It even changed family members that only heard some of the stories. The fact he was so changed, just witnessing the aftermath of the atrocities, lends just a small nugget understanding about what the victims endured. He had no sympathy for the German people, knowing that they allowed this to happen to their fellow countrymen and others around Europe. He said that there was absolutely no way they didn't know. He had been a devout Catholic but that also changed. He couldn't be part of a church that helped these annihilators escape. He stopped believing in god.
My heart goes out to all that suffered. I can't wrap my head around what was done to these people. How so many could treat another human being like they did is beyond me. The people that went through these camps are all heroes. Each and every one of them. The survivors that are still speaking out need to be heard, loud and clear.
"If we forget the past, we're doomed to repeat it." I don't know who that quote belongs to but it is something that should be repeated constantly. I look at what we allow to happen with minorities, black men especially, the poor the mentally ill and the Muslim community in this country and it scares and angers me. How far from what Germany did to the Jews, LGBT, Gypsies, etc, are we? At what point will we demand it stop? Even propaganda is unacceptable, yet we have people like Bill OReilly screaming about Muslims and their supposed agenda to end America while young black men and boys are gunned down by law enforcement without any consequence.
Today we should look at where we are headed by remembering the past.
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