Wow. Visiting Dachau is a pretty devastating experience. It was the first concentration camp, the model for all others to follow. I imagine a trip to Dachau, while not explicitly an extermination camp with fully operational gas chambers, nevertheless managed to degrade and annihilate tens of thousands of perfectly decent, healthy human beings. I think Auschwitz would leave me a puddle on the floor.
On the train home, I met a couple who run the Holocaust Museum in Melbourne Australia. They had a very unique take on hatred which they have learned from their friends who actually survived the camps. They don't bother with it. They don't hate the Germans today. They don't give in to the “Them vs. Us” mentality that was one of the Nazi's primary tools. They refuse to see Nazis as “monsters” because to do so would distance you from the potential for all of us to behave monsterously given certain circumstances. I found them very helpful in getting beyond the weight of Dachau and make sense of the dread thoughts it inspires. Thanks Zvi & Marian.
L
Sujet: 22 juin 
Sam 18 Sep - 14:43
