Visited Dachau about 30 years ago on a dreary,depressing winter day.I was at a loss for words then...just as I am now.
Never understood the idea of having political prisoners making armaments...
I know a guy who was there, who says it was the other way around. He was with the 42nd, says they liberated Dachau proper and the 45th liberated a subcamp.
I was stationed a few miles north of Dachau. Went to the camp a few times. Always an experience.
As they neared the camp, the Americans found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies in various states of decomposition.
This was about Buchenwald, but I always think of the Edward R. Murrow broadcast about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQkrLPJGM8
I’m proud of our guys, they stopped with shooting the guards. It was fitting that the townspeople were made to bury the dead. I always feel as if a knife is stabbing through my heart when I read of these camps and the unbridled evil that caused them.
I’ve visited Dachau several times. Also Madjanek and Auschwitz. Truly chilling. And bewildering I might add. Industrialized murder. Why?
Here in 2018, 42nd Rainbow Division would mean something completely different.
Ironic that both the Nazis and the 45th used the same symbol. Then the 45th changed to something more indicative of Oklahoma’s native American heritage.
And this is exactly what the hard-core proglibs espousing “tolerance and inclusiveness” would absolutely impose on true Christian conservatives given the slightest chance of success.
It is the in-common defect of their nature as humans.
.
And they have the audacity to whine about Dresden.
I have a friend whose grandfather was liberated from Dachau by the 42nd & 45th Infantry Divisions & the 20th Armored Division of the United States Army. She wrote that her grandfather was born on April 28 but always celebrated April 29 as his birthday.
The world said NEVER AGAIN
But Europe is drifting in that direction again.
This time they are letting the muslims do most, but not all, of the dirty work.
And to a lesser degree, Jew Bashing is on the rise in the USA too - especially among leftists, leftist colleges, etc.
“Work sets you free.”
Not my words.
Saw it in about ‘68. I was just a kid but it really affected me. It was very disturbing but I learned that people are capable of incredible evil and I never forgot it. Coupled with schools that taught us the true horrors of fascism, dictatorships and totalitarianism vs. the American way, I’m sure it sealed in my mind why this country and our heritage is worth every effort to preserve.
They don’t teach that these days. They are erasing it all from collective memory. Which means it is very likely to happen again in some fashion. What a damned shame that is.
I believe the actual death toll at Dachau was around 60,000. Even after it being liberated there were many inmates who were too sick and weak and simply died.
One of my brothers was a German POW and that camp was forced to walk several miles to a railhead to be moved to another camp as the allies neared. Patton eventually liberated them near Berlin. He was a bombardier on a B17...