WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: 'Let it be known'

[katiemakeup]

Very moving.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/11/acevedo.pow/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

 

[Cricket]

A very powerful article especially for Veterans Day. The fact that this man is still full of such love is amazing. He has not hatred for what has happened. He is a true hero and in no way a "coward."

 

[reetpleat]

Very interesting. It highlights the horror of war on both the dead and the survivors. I don't know what my have driven his father to say what he did, but surely it was a result of the emotional damage of the war on all involved.

Ironic that the one time they get to take a shower is when they think they are going to be gassed.

Perhaps I am too skeptical, but I am assuming the reason it was kept a secret is to ease the transition of Germany from enemy to ally. For the good of world economy and German redevelopment I guess. But make no mistake, there was much profit and political capitol involved.

The worst part is not just the public not knowing, but surely the inability to talk about it has affected many of these men's ability to heal.

 

[Matt Deckard]

There were no boundaries to the nazi cruelty. Silences guaranteed and the public mesmerized, the nation was not only cruel to their wartime enemies, but to their neighbors and sometimes family because they saw the world differently and that somehow made them think they were better and endowed with the right to torture shun and kill.

A very touching Story indeed.

Never forget.

And always speak up.

 

[reetpleat]

It is amazing how a people, no better or wore in nature than anyone else in the world, can be brought to a mental place where they could support and commit such atrocities.

It is tempting to say it could never happen to me, or us, but unless you are prepared to argue that certain people are genetically different in that regard, we must acknowledge that it is all circumstance and the wilful manipulations of people in authority. I agree, we must be ever vigilent, lest it be allowed to happen again.

I am curious to know if the US did the same hush hush policy in regard to the japanese. I suspect it was as much. Still, much was swept under the rug in the name of getting japan on economic track and normalizing relations.

I am most amazed that this guy could persevere and took on the obligation to care for and even catalog their existence.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

A true hero, who deserves our sincerest gratitude. I, too, am amazed that he took such care to document what was happening. It shows the hope he still had - that his documentation would survive, and that someone would be there to care about it in the future. May we be found worthy of his hope.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

In a not dissimilar vein....

National Geographic Channel has been running a series of Nazi history programs.

Two photo albums from that place and time have come to surface and are on display at the United States Holocaust Museum. The links are below:

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/ssalbum/?content=3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Friedrich_H%C3%B6cker

-dixon cannon