A few years ago while in France, we visited Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp. It was a sobering experience. It is estimated that 52,000 people were kept at this camp during the time between 1941 and 1944. Most of the prisoners were from resistance movements in German occupied territories - political prisoners. Of course there were some Jewish people there - mostly brought in to be experimented on and/or gassed. It is estimated that 22,000 people died there - people who stood up and did what they thought was right - spoke out against oppression. It started with censorship. The ones in power shut down the voices they didn't want to hear. Then they shut down the writings, the art, the music of anyone who opposed their views. They ruined careers, cut people off. People became fearful. The Nazi movement became stronger. Eventually, Hitler did not have to put up with people speaking out against him, he just removed the entirely.
6 comments:
A sobering experience for sure. It sounds very familiar in this day and time. Sigh…..
Jo, who would have thought back then that first would come censorship and then concentration camps and death? But it did happen.
They control with fear and I'm pretty much afraid.
Interesting. My Uncle Heinrich AKA Henri Mathieu was in that camp. During the Depression he became a Communist.
When the Germans invaded they rounded-up all the communists and sent them to concentration camps. I found his name on the prisoner roles, when I had an account on Ancestry.
My mother said he died a few years after the war, very emaciated. I think he was in his 40's.
Jo,
Controlling with fear is exactly right. Fear that if you speak up, you are next.
Etienne,
Wow! That is fascinating that your uncle was at this camp for being a Communist. Hitler was against anyone who might take his power away.
I posted this on my Facebook page and a young friend of mine told me that his grandfather, a man I knew, had been in a POW camp during WWII after being shot down as a pilot.
The Germans treated POW's much better. We treated theirs even better in our camps because we weren't just bombed. Some men bailed out and were killed by the people they just bombed before the German Army could save them.
A lot of the actors on "Hogan's Hero's" wouldn't have done it if it was a Concentration Camp. Robert Clary "LeBeau" was actually in a couple of them because he was Jewish. They said they got some criticism, but after they explained the difference, then people could get into the comedy better.
The Japanese were a different story...
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