edward@ukma.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (05/08/85)
Last night I watched the PBS program 'Frontline' which showed
a WWII documentary about the 'liberation' of the Nazi death camps. I
must confess, prior to viewing this, I had a rather pale knowledge
of what happened in those camps. That changed rapidly.
The film shown was shot by various film crews of various armies
duning 1945 (I think it was '45) to be used in a documentary. This was
no half hearted effort either, Alfred Hitchcock was credited as
'Treatment Advisor'. The films were recently discovered in some archives
in England. The original soundtrack for the film was lost, as well as
the final reel. A script, however, was still intact, and provided the
narration the original producers had intended.
The hour long piece documented the liberation of eight concentration
camps including Dachau, Buchenwald and Bergen Belsen. (Forgive my spelling)
The film gave a no-holds-barred look at the inhumanity practiced by
Hitler's SS troops. At the Belsen, the longest segment, we saw the
mass burial of THOUSANDS of bodies. Most of the people had died of
starvation, which means that what was left to be buried was barely a
shell of a former human being. The magnitude of the situation cannot
be appreciated without seeing piles of disease-ridden, decaying corpses
dumped into hugh pits. The burial process was no small operation by
any means. At Belsen alone, we saw 10 grave markers indicating the
size of the graves. These markers displayed numbers of 800, 1000 and
several 5000's.
Prior to the liberation, the SS disposed of corpses mainly
by burning. At Dachau we saw rows of hugh ovens specifically built
for cremation purposes. At anouther camp, a shot of the crematorium
was accompanied by the narrative "The daily collection of corpses
was disposed of through this smoke stack".
The treatment of the living was by no means humane. Prisoners
were not allowed to bath, which lead to lice infestation and Typhus.
They were fed minuscule amounts of substances that could hardly be
called food, which lead to malnutrition and starvation. A particularly
disturbing image, was the shot of a bed made of barbed wire. (Yes, that's
barbed wire)
Without dragging this out too long, let me recommend that you
check your local PBS listings and try to catch this program on rerun.
It is gross at times and hard to watch, but it should be seen by
everyone. It takes a program such as this to inform us just how
horrible the holocaust was.
--
edward
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"Well, what's on the television then?"
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\___/ \=jrc@ritcv.UUCP (James R. Carbin) (05/11/85)
> > Last night I watched the PBS program 'Frontline' which showed > a WWII documentary about the 'liberation' of the Nazi death camps. I > must confess, prior to viewing this, I had a rather pale knowledge > of what happened in those camps. That changed rapidly........... > Prior to my first visit to Munich, I had no idea either of the immensity of the concentration camps. Not far from from Munich is Dachau. Modern day Germany should be commended for keeping Dachau reasonably intact as a museum which depicts man's awful inhumanity to man. Lest none of us forget the atrocities, Dachau as well as the remains of many other concentration camps exist today. No cover up is apparent as I think that the Germany of today does not want anyone to forget this tragedy. (Yes, I am sure that there still exists some radicals who feel otherwise, but what can one say about them.) If you ever travel to Munich, be sure to take time to visit Dachau. It is far from a tourist attraction, but an experience that I believe you will never ever forget. as ever, j.r. {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!jrc
karn@petrus.UUCP (05/13/85)
I also visited Dachau last summer while touring Germany. Prior to my arrival in Munich, I didn't know that it was so close. One evening I was waiting for the S-Bahn (metropolitan area train) and a train marked "Dachau" went by. Needless to say, I was somewhat taken aback. Even as I stood in front of a crematorium oven, it was very, very hard to comprehend at a non-abstract level what had gone on there 40 years earlier. If the camp had not been maintained, it would have been completely impossible. This is why the camps need to be maintained forever, despite some Germans who shrug and say that the space shouldn't be "wasted". I also highly recommend the PBS show. Phil
greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) (05/24/85)
> Modern day Germany should be commended for keeping Dachau > reasonably intact as a museum which depicts man's awful inhumanity to man. > Lest none of us forget the atrocities, Dachau as well as the remains > of many other concentration camps exist today. No cover up is apparent > as I think that the Germany of today does not want anyone to forget this > tragedy. I'd like to think so, but I'm not so sure. Did you get a chance to get much into conversation with the locals (residents of Munich and its suburbs, particularly families who've been there some time) about the preservation of Dachau? I did when I lived there for a year and was pretty much "accepted" (takes some time with the Bavarians and a willingness to learn their murky dialect). I was shocked at the number of people who, in private conversation, expressed anger and irritation at the fact that Dachau was left open as a reminder of a time they would either like to completely forget or pretend never was. In fact, I ran into more than one occasion where natives expressed a sentiment to the effect that "well, we know we have to say it was wrong, but just between us, you know those Jews were really troublemakers who brought it on themselves." In fact, it was continued re-exposure to this mentality that made it ultimately impossible for my wife and I to continue living there comfortably, despite the beautiful countryside and the good beer. - Greg Paley