We’ve all seen the images in grainy black and white — images of skeleton-like human beings, images of “showers” that turned out to be gas extermination chambers for what the Nazis considered vermin (human beings), images of the ovens that busily cremated the bodies of murdered prisoners who had even been stripped of gold in their teeth. Images of men, women and tiny children caught up in a nightmare that none of us can even imagine.
But they didn’t see it or their final tortured seconds on this earth in black and white. They saw it in color.
Today the regime that so despised the Jews that it wanted to wipe them out with absolutely no mercy in terms of age, sex or any other criteria out is gone in the 21st century.
BE SURE TO CLICK HERE to see a truly remarkable photo essay by Bill Nienheus on his site Punditguy. In it he recounts how, while visiting Munich, he made an unplanned visit to the infamous Nazi concentration camp Dachau. He details his feelings as he visited each horrific room. A tiny taste:
I experienced something of the Holocaust today that no book could describe, no pictures convey, and nothing a Hollywood movie could present. Dachau is a piece of history, a living memorial to the people who died there, but also to the survivors who struggled and suffered, but walked away on their day of liberation.
We must never forget what happened during the Holocaust, and we must take whatever measures necessary to ensure it never happens again. I know one thing. I’ll never forget what I saw today. Dachau won’t let me.
He displays his My-God-I-could-be-in-there-too color photos he took of how it looks today. The showers. The ovens. The slogan in German so the Jews would think it was a work camp instead of a death camp. The crematorium. And he shows you his color photos alongside the some of the same somehow cold black-and-white images we’ve all seen as we learned history.
But Dachau wasn’t in black and white.
It was in color. As colorful as raw emotions, and blood-freezing horror and unspeakable grief (TMV’s mother’s Ravinsky family relatives were virtually wiped out by the Nazis). As real as yesterday. Read what he writes and see the photos and you’ll feel like you are there….and were there. You’ll never forget it.
Dachau — and Nienheus — won’t let you.