Thoughts and reflections on 9/11 and a recent trip to Floßenbürg death camp:
I have been back from Bavaria for a week now. It took some time to process the whole trip – the sights, the sounds, the smells and tastes. Needless to say I am missing my son, daughter-in-law and new grand baby too.
One of the most memorable parts of my trip outside of being with family was the day my son and I visited Floßenbürg Concentration Camp. In around 7-years more than 96,000 prisoners came through their doors and more than 30,000 lost their lives.
For those of you have been there, you know why it’s unforgettable. For those of you in USAG commands in Bavaria Germany, I encourage you to make it a point to get there!
Visiting Floßenbürg, which is now an educational and solemn museum and memorial sight made me realize the vital importance of a solemn and honest memorial for victims of horrific historical events.
As I walked through the museum, which is placed in the original processing building, I knew my feet were standing where the prisoners of Floßenbürg stood. I heard their stories… the stories of the survivors. I read notes and letters hand written by those who escaped their hell through the grave. There was nothing political about the display. There was nothing glossing over the abject terror that was Floßenbürg. I understood what happened. I didn’t like it. It made me nauseated at times, but I understood it and that was vital.
The stories and displays in the Floßenbürg museum belong to the victims. It is not a government display. It is not a political display. It is a memorial for those who lost their lives, and for survivors who lived through the horror.
We know how they died. We know who brutalized their bodies, tormented their minds and who stripped them of their humanity and murdered them in cold blood. It was not a nameless entity. It was Nazis. We identify the guilty party and we call them by name. To do any less than that is to tip our hats to them, sweep their disgusting name under the rug, and desecrate the memory of those who were murdered.
I am not drawing a direct parallel between Nazi Germany and the terror attacks on America, but I am drawing a parallel between horror, terror, victims and how they should be remembered. We have been ‘encouraged’ by the White House to not use repeated references to al-Qaeda. Instead we are told to use the term victims of ‘global terrorism.’
When I recall that fateful day as I sat and watched the events unfold in person in Washington DC, I am disgusted to think that we are told to move from honest, concrete truths to a more ‘abstract’ wording in favor of political correctness.
By comparison the truth of Floßenbürg was brutal and heart wrenching, but it was the only dignified way to tell the stories of those who were horrifically murdered.
To not say anything is an insult. To pretty-up the picture with political correctness is an insult to the victims and a hat tip to the perpetrators. I do not recall another time in my lifetime when the White House has told America how to grieve and what to say during that grief.
We will have to fight for truth and keep the day of remembrance of 9/11 in our communities for ourselves in order to keep the truth in front of our eyes. Nothing kills the truth faster and more thoroughly than the skillful rhetoric of politicians and their agendas.
