Turner Classic Movies recently showed, The Longest Day.
This 1962 epic film tells the story of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy in WWII. The events of D-Day are shown from the perspective of both the Allies and the Germans while weaving the story of five separate invasion points that made up the operation.
Although I had seen this movie years ago, I sat through the nearly 3-hour film with awe and sadness. My fascination with history, in particularly World War II, probably began when my Dad told stories about his experiences during wartime. He spent all 4 years of the same war in the US Navy, patrolling the South Pacific on a tiny diesel submarine.
Whether from a story my Dad told, a book I may have read, or perhaps a Hollywood depiction, I am always moved at the bravery and heroism of the soldiers and sailors who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom and country. As The Longest Day navigated through the lives and strategies of the German soldiers and airmen, I could not help but consider the brutality, the terror, the downright evil that Hitler and his regime inflicted upon millions of people, in particular, those of Jewish heritage.
History through the ages shows the depravity of man and the battles between good men and evil men. Although some try to erase history or foolishly try to pretend that many events did not happen, I know it’s important to study history, to learn from previous mistakes, to hopefully prevent the atrocities of the past from ending up in history books again.
Years ago, I made a couple of trips to Europe and had the opportunity to visit sites related to WWII, the Holocaust and the internment of people in prisons and concentration camps. I walked the grounds of Dachau and Mauthausen; two very large concentration camps that saw thousands of men and women enter, but never leave.
A few weeks after the occupation of Austria by German troops, high-ranking German SS and police officers visited the Mauthausen quarries near the Danube River and found them to be a suitable location for a concentration camp. On August 8, 1938, prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp were transferred to the Wiener Graben Quarry and construction of the Mauthausen concentration camp was begun.
Between August 8, 1938, and the liberation on May 5, 1945, some 195,000 persons of both sexes were imprisoned at Mauthausen and its sub-camps, and more than 105,000 were killed there or perished as a result of the torments of camp life.
From my experience of visiting Mauthausen, I wrote “Today, I cried.”
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal
Today, I cried.
I stepped past the entrance gate and found myself staring into the faces of 195,000 innocent people. Naked and abused shells of men and women with hollow eyes without hope confronted me. Bordered by wooden huts on the left, wooden and stone buildings on the right, I walked past painful scars, empty stares, sobbing mothers, innocence lost in a small child.
Today, I cried.
I hear the crunch of snow behind me. His boots are heavy and the sound is frightening. The emaciated body crumbles to the ground. A last gasp and he is gone. Blood mixes with snow. I hear the fading crunch of snow behind me. His boots are heavy and the sound is frightening.
Today, I cried.
A shot rings out. I see dark smoke rising from the smokestack near the sick quarters. It’s a peculiar smell, but slowly the smoke fades. Another shot is fired. The sky becomes dark again.
Today, I cried.
I stumble from the approach road and begin my ascent on the death steps leading into the quarry. Falling rocks greet each step. Stone and flesh meet, the latter loses. Someone else takes his place in line.
Today, I cried.
Pinball & Preachers 
Very heart warming Steve
LikeLike