Pete I just don't understand any of this. The books I have read, the movies I have seen, the parents of some of my class mates with the tattoos above their wrists, story's from family that were fresh on the scene when the camps were liberated, it just never could be real, that is until I foolishly visited the museum in DC. I made it 3/4 of the way when I collapsed and had a panic attack. I was fine until I got to the exhibit, the 3 tear bunk beds the prisoners slept on. I reached out to touch the wood and almost instant nausea, so intense I had to sit down on the floor.
Hubby had problems with the walk through rail car, he in fact almost ran through it, later when I asked him why he acted this way all he could tell me was that small little box that had held over 100 lives gave him a feeling of familiarity. Like he had been there before.
There was a woman a friend of my Moms that lived in town, she would come to the house and tell Mom what it was like for the Christian Germans as a child. The suffering imposed on the civilians by the war machine was truly horrid. Little food, spending nights in cold cellars as we bombed the heck out of them. They had to direct their anger at someone and the government gave them scape goats. Now to make life even more interesting the German people were more afraid of the government then they were of being bombed by us or England.
This woman had lived outside a camp in Germany and would watch as humans were marched through town to the camps. These heavily guarded people Jew, Gypsy, Gay, Jehovah's Witnesses and Communists were starving. Some of the town folk with little food themselves would pity the prisoners and throw them a crust of bread then run like heck as the guards would shoot them for that act.
Most of the towns folk threw rocks at these half dead people as they believed they were the reason for their suffering. The people like any other kind of folk lived in fear of that knock on the door and have their 15 year old male children taken away to fight on the Russian front.
Yes the people could in fact smell the scent of the crematoriums at times. They knew, could tell days ahead of time when a new lot of prisoners would be brought in because the smell went on day and night-----to make room for more prisoners a certain number of prisoners would have to be killed.
Most wanted revenge on the prisoners that they believed had caused the loss of life of most of their family members, those left were themselves starving, cold and terrified.
In a way it confuses me more to know both sides of the story. The German people were as much a victim of the government as those who died in the camps were. At least the people in the camps knew why the government was going to kill them, the civilians had no idea why their government also treated them so brutally.
So contradictory we are. We cheer for the people who escaped Europe before things got really nasty. We cry for those Good Germans that were 10 generation and loved their country and died for their patriotism.
To ask a German family why their relatives stayed behind is asking for trouble.
Would you leave America because you felt the government was doing wrong.?
Their government was voted in like ours, they believed they could be voted out. No sane person would believe what their government planned to do and in fact did.
Back then had there been bumper stickers they would have read, " Germany, love it or die." or, " Kids need fresh air, send them to camp."
We think this is old news, can't happen here, how blind we are. We ourselves had the west coast camps for Japanese citizens, took their homes, businesses and lives at the same time Germany was doing the same thing. Only difference was the treatment our prisoners got. But it came close, there was talk of castrating the male baby's born in the camps. Very, very close.
Today I believe the only way we can win this new war is to hark back to the old time warfare. We freaking know where this Atomic research is going on, we know every day we ignore it the better developed it gets.
Why in the name of humanity don't we use conventional bunker busters to take the whole thing out NOW. Do we have to go for a few years grumbling and worrying about how the middle east is developing something that can kill millions.? Do we wait until this monster is up and running then crap our pants because we have done nothing to stop it,
We don't even need ground troops for this, just blow a hole in the earth 10 miles square, 6 miles down. Give them their own Grand Canyon.
We can do it at the drop of a dime with out a nuclear bomb. So all the Nuclear country's go ape $h1t, old time non nuclear warfare.
This fighting on the ground is nuts, leave that for the clean up crew after we raid our arsenals and drop from the Sky's all the old and new stuff we have.
THEY started this war from the Sky's, just drop enough bombs to put them out of business and wait for the back lash. Won't hurt to just stand tall and announce after the fact, " what is the difference in one suicide bomber of yours and a really big bomber of ours.?"
Rant ended----for now, sorry Thor, we woman don't stand for foolish men or woman that don't believe in my Grandmas saying " A stitch in time saves 9"
