There's a great article, a pocket history of WW2, by a Chicago writer named Lee Sandlin. He talks about how seemingly every battle in the war was an exercise in horrors previously unseen by man, with each battle being worse than the last as new weapon technology was introduced. By 1945, anyone who'd been in the combat theaters longer than 6 months believed he'd been made immune to the insane Hell of war. Then they found the death camps, and the people who thought they were forever desensitized discovered they'd been wrong.

I'm sure you know this, Donnie, but you're a fantastic writer.

Donnie,

Great article. I feel I need to throw in a couple of facts. Not all Germans signed up for the Wehrmacht when called. They refused. And they were shot on the spot. No trial, no nothing. Shot on the spot. So conscientious objectors were shot on sight. No need to wonder any longer.

The original German plan was to send all the Jews in Europe to Eretz Yisrael. Shiping them out was a lot cheaper than killing them. The Zionist executive entered secret negotiations to save the non-religious Jews (they didn't want religious Jews infecting the country they were building) and when the British effectively shut the doors to Mandate the Germans had one huge logostics problem on their hands.

Nevertheless, it was a Gaza born Arab, Amin Husseini, the self styled "Grand Mufti of Palestine," who fled to Germany, became one of Hitler's running dogs, and lobbied incessantly for an execution of Jews to prevent them from overruning Eretz Yisrael.

So Elli Friedmann, who later taught me Hebrew as a professor at the Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York as Livia Bitton, was condemned to a concentration camp by the uncle of Yassir Arafat.

Once, and once only, did she mention having been born in Hungary. She never mentioned the concentration camps, but she always wore long sleeves and always dressed very attractively.

One of the things I hope to see come from opening these archives are the real religious and ideological roots of the Nazi movement thoroughly explored.

Michael: Thank you, I'll be looking up Mr. Sandlin's article. I'm fascinated by WWII history so I'm sure it will be interesting for me to read.
As you said, and my old neighbor confirmed, the men of the U.S. Army thought they'd seen every horror imaginable until the finding of the camps. One of Mr. Cook's most memorable remarks of that time was, "even Patton cried." It should give one pause in considering how horrible the camps were, to realize even these battle hardened men were rocked to their cores by them.

Ruvy,
Interesting comments, thank you. You've given me more research to do!
God Bless your professor, and all those who survived to live with such scarring memories.

Donnie, you can get the Sandlin article here. (The link opens a Word doc.)

Mr. Cook sounds like a helluva soldier, too. Third Army?

Donnie, you find nothing in yourself that would have gone along with it? No misplaced anger, no greed, no cowardice, no laziness? Do you have perfect compassion for everyone? I don't trust myself that much. Believe me, I'd rather hear people saying 'never again' than the alternative, but I don't trust them.

Michael, thank you for the link. I'll be reading it soon.
Yes, Mr. Cook was 3rd Army.

Baronius, I said I hoped I would have the courage to refuse. We all have the capacity for cruelty beyond imagination if we don't fear reprisal. I do know myself enough to know I could not participate and live with it.
Your point is well taken though.