"...But the greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness - each system only too delighted to find that the other is wicked - each only too glad that the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity..." - Herbert Butterfield


This is another piece in a series of writings depicting the author’s recent visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, 10 miles north of Munich, in the southern part of Germany.

Nearly 200,000 prisoners were interned at Dachau where over 25,000 perished. Formerly an abandoned munitions factory, it opened its doors in March 1933 and was called the first concentration camp for political prisoners. The camp was liberated in April 1945 by the US Army's 42d Infantry Division.

This mini-life journey is complete: from Normandy, France to Israel, then to Dachau.

A cool soft breeze blows a distant memory into my mind,

the silence is deafening,

from souls long gone into eternity,

crying for peace and rememberance,

during a time when there was none.

I imagine the horrible screams,

Thus is another ugly reality of life---in the form of a permanent memorial,

Exposed to the world for its brutality,

blocked by an electrified barbed wire and fence

to keep a mass of humanity for punishment and death,

conditions beneath human dignity and respect,

this to hide the deadly nature of a camp,

the Final Solution carried out

for the undesirables of society,

Then what can we learn, from the stench of cruelty and the sight of brutality?

Is this a wake up call for generations?

to the wickedness of a generation

to think of how many faced their end time

death creeping upon those who wait

their final walk with God to death

they teach me how to endure crises with humility and not grief

can there be forgiveness in a place of pain and suffering?

I think of the tormentors, the guards, the executioners, did they wanted to come clean in their final hours

to confess their sins and transgressions?

forgiveness would only perpetuate the crime

Perhaps in silence they would have been healed

But I also think back at home in my community families are going through camps of their own---

disintegrating marriages with no hope of forgiveness,

fractured families,

collapsing friendships,

mistrust, mental maltreatment, verbal and physical abuse.

Today I leave Dachau with the thoughts---that I cannot inexcusably turn a blind eye to this misdeed

or pretend it didn't happen.

Now is a time for restoration, repentence, and reconciliation.
 

Copyright © 2007 by Myles Saulibio. All Rights Reserved